343 Industries might be developing a brand-new Halo game in addition to its continuing work on Halo Infinite, at least according to one insider’s claims. Microsoft’s flagship sci-fi FPS franchise has seen a renewed interest over the past year thanks to the launch of Halo Infinite, which was finally released following a lengthy delay last November. Infinite earned high marks from fans and critics, and it quickly broke the record for most downloads for an Xbox Game Studios published title on Steam within the span of a few days.
However, while many viewed Halo Infinite as a solid return to form for the series after the divisive Halo 5: Guardians and a great jumping-on point for newcomers, there are still a few areas that fans feel 343 Industries needs to work on - namely the fact that popular features like Campaign Co-Op and Forge Mode are still missing from Infinite. The game's multiplayer is also the subject of criticism due to an uneven character progression model, the lack of a battle royale mode, issues regarding cheating, and relatively few updates from 343 Industries -though the developer has pledged to address many of these problems in the future. Meanwhile, it appears that the Halo studio could have another big project in the works alongside its ongoing support for Halo Infinite.
On the latest episode of YouTuber Rand al Thor's Xbox Two podcast (via GamingBolt), noted gaming journalist Jez Corden said that he was “fairly sure” but not a hundred percent certain that there is another Halo game in development at 343 Industries. He didn’t go into much further detail about what this mystery project could be about, but he has discussed such a project being in the works in the past. Furthermore, job listings at 343 Industries over the past few years have lent credence to the idea of a new Halo game being greenlit, but the studio's previous insistence that Halo Infinite will serve as the Halo franchise’s main platform over the next decade or so suggests that if there is a new title in development, it will be a spin-off rather than another mainline Halo entry.
It will probably still be a while yet before Microsoft and 343 Industries are ready to formally announce this new Halo project, as both companies seem to be fully committed to expanding Halo Infinite for the time being. 343 recently announced that the aforementioned Campaign Co-Op will finally be released in Halo Infinite sometime in August. Meanwhile, Halo Infinite continues to see new multiplayer events and expansions, like Season 2’s “Lone Wolves” content that is set to go live on May 3. Finally, recent leaks have hinted that 343 Industries is adding a battle royale mode to Halo Infinite under the name of “Last Spartan Standing” - though the studio has repeatedly denied that this is the case.
It remains to be seen if there is an entirely new Halo game in the cards on top of 343’s planned Halo Infinite content, but the possibilities are truly endless for this potential spin-off. Perhaps fans might be in for a new Halo Wars sequel (despite previous signs that 343 is ending the series with 2017's Halo Wars 2), or this new project could be another FPS side-story like Halo: Reach or Halo 3: ODST. In any case, nothing has been officially confirmed from Microsoft or 343 Industries, so only time will tell if Jez Corden’s predictions of a new Halo game are indeed accurate.
Source: Rand al Thor 19/YouTube (via GamingBolt)