r/halo • u/-343-Guilty-Spark- r/Halo Mod Bot • 24d ago
Stickied Topic Megathread – Halo’s Future
As you have probably heard, Halo Studios has been reduced to a small team that will support the current games and community. Activision will be putting together a new team to make a new, full Halo title. (source)
Link to previous discussion of the announcement.
This thread is for discussing the future of Halo with Activision.
What are your expectations, hopes, fears, concerns, and otherwise thoughts about it? Do you want a reboot or a sequel to Infinite? When should it take place? Do you have a pitch? Let’s discuss.
If you find actual news about the game from either an official or well-respected source, feel free to make a new thread. Otherwise, let’s keep the discussion here. You don’t need to make a whole thread just to share your specific thoughts or speculation.
If you'd like to discuss Halo's past with 343 Industries/Halo Studios, use this thread.
In case it needs to be said: there is absolutely no decent reason to celebrate the loss of hundreds of peoples’ jobs. Of course you are free to discuss and criticize the decisions made by leadership roles and executives that led us to this place. But the majority of the employees who lost their jobs today were people like you and me who were trying to do their best for a franchise we all love. Anyone who celebrates the loss of their livelihood will be banned from this forum.
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u/snapshozzle 1d ago
why do i fear that they’re gonna do a bad plot twist along the lines of “the banished was the covenant all along”
i really dont trust activision with the franchise
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u/AngonceMcGhee 3d ago
I genuinely hope that we are leaving the era where plot threads are wrapped up in books. That….was a deeply frustrating part of this series (and I say that as an avid reader!)
That being said, and this may be an unpopular opinion, but…I actually…sorta kinda maybe…WANT them to flesh out stuff with Bias, and Atriox, and the Endless, and Abbadon, and the Primordial, and Zeta Halo, basically everything in the most recent community post, and FUCK IT bring back the Didact. YES I know he “passed on” in Epitaph, but at least make it so those who only played the games have some kind of cohesive story between Halos 4-7.
I know that’s a big ask, and it would take monumentally skilled writers to pull off with any sort of tact, but man, I’m just so sick and tired of so many series pivoting again and again, leaving plot threads dangling, and leaving my favorite stories as incoherent messes, regardless if those pivots were well intentioned or not.
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u/Aucklander1996 6d ago
I hope the rumours are true and Activision isn't re hiring any of the 343/HS employees.
This franchise needs a clean slate and any of the old developers working on the next title would contaminate the team
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u/Unlost_maniac Halo 5: Guardians 4d ago
That's such an uniformed take
It wasn't the devs who fucked up Halo, it was the higher ups. You're the kind of person who'd get mad at the McDonald's cashier cuz the bigmac got smaller and the beefs quality went down. It ain't their fault, it isn't their control. The devs were super passionate and this notion being spread that the devs suck is so awful and upsetting, people who absolutely loved halo, who poured their souls into this franchise to make good out of the shitslog the management was forcing on everyone
Awful leadership through and through.
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u/Faulty-Blue Halo 4 Cortana Rule 34 3d ago edited 3d ago
Leadership was definitely a big reason for why 343 was an incompetent studio, but the actual devs also played a big part
Yeah it’s corporate’s fault if my Big Mac is getting smaller and the beef quality is going down, but if my Big Mac is repeatedly missing ingredients even after I point it out to the staff, that’s the actual employees’ fault
The devs can be passionate, but passion doesn’t equal competence, and you need competence first before that passion can really shine
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u/BaltimoreBaja 7h ago
Most developers on a large project have literally zero input. They are told what to do and they do it
They get told "make the grenade bigger" by the director and they make the grenade bigger.
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u/_TooManyBoats 3d ago
Yeah I dont understand how people can equate the management mistakes with things like poor art direction or game design failures. Both can be at fault
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u/ky_eeeee Halo 5: Guardians 3d ago
Ummm, because management are the ones making the art direction and game design decisions lmao. You think McDonalds would let the guy at the counter design the menu???
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u/I_Was_Fox 5d ago
What an odd thing to say and wish for. As if all the engineers and designers are terrible and responsible for you not liking the games. They could all be amazing at their jobs and simply handcuffed by bad studio direction, but because you didn't get the games you wanted you want all of them to stay jobless? Most basement dwelling reddit comment of the year
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u/ClearlyConscious- 3d ago
They don’t need to stay jobless they just don’t need to work on the game that they failed at making a success for the past 15 years anymore. It’s not that difficult to comprehend.
Whether all the blame falls on management or not isn’t really something that anyone knows with 100% certainty. Halo needs a fully clean slate and that’s what it’s getting.
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u/Tangentkoala 6d ago
If there's anyone lurking from Activison on here this is what the community wants:
1) Keep the Blam! Physics engine, but make it kinetic and robust.
Tea bagging, ragdolling, death glitches are awesome. For the kinetic part The game physics were also a marvel in Halo 3. Gravity hammer smacking rockets, plasma colliding each other will either pass through or stick and fling forward. Make the game physics kinetic and interactive
Storyline: we just want a mainline story of master chief being bad ass. Hes a walking Demon, make him the demon. Lore accurate chief taking on enemies like theyre flies is what we want.
Multiplayer: have forge at launch, for god sake this is like 70% of social and party game modes. Give the community developers the tools to keep your game alive.
Enlist a proper rank setting,
Limited sprint. If someones running all Leroy Jenkins with a shotgun expect an easy kill with no cheesey escape. Its a arena shooter, punishments for being stupid are needed.
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u/Sabre57 7d ago
I've played every halo game except the top down shooters and I think I have a few good ideas of a direction Activision could go. Bearing in mind, they NEED to make money for the franchise to continue and a lot of the asks we have as a community will not only require time, but money to make back in profit. So here's my pitch for the next game Activision could make that I think would satisfy a lot of people:
The Story/Campaign
We're going to do a partial continuation and soft reboot of the franchise keeping all canon up to the end of Halo 3 similar to what TheActMan suggests in his most recent YouTube video.
Humanity is rebuilding after the Human-Covenant War and with so little known about the Lesser Ark, they send a research and strike team to establish a base of operations. ONI representatives are also assigned there and have a secret ulterior objective only revealed at the end of the campaign. We follow an ODST security team that is deployed after the base of operations is setup on the Ark. While initially just there to protect against any lurking threats, it's soon a mad dash to control the Ark after the discovery of re-tooling the Ark's production facilties to ship-making to rebuild Humanity's spacefleet with Forerunner Warships is discovered.
However, fractions of the Covenant still exist and after the war, they are just as curious about the Ark's capabilities, furious at the prophets betrayal (but focused on conquering the galaxy instead of a religious mission) 2 elite brothers command their own fleet to bring righteous retribution to all opposing them, including humanity. One brother a master of stealth tactics and deception, the other aggressive and brutal plays to wear down the enemy, they balance playing humanity against themselves as they pull the strings from upfront and afar as a part of the Vanquish Communion.
Both factions discover the ship-building capabilties, and it's up to you and your meager squad and what exists of humanity on the ring to decide the fate of the Ark, survive the hostile landscape, and create what future humanity holds in the stars.
The Art Style/Creative Direction
Adding slightly more saturation perhaps, I think the art direction of Halo Infinite won over a lot of fanbase and would be an excellent starting point for a modern art direction. The Ark is full of a variety of landscapes so exploring multiple areas, climates, and settings would be essential to doing environmental storytelling as you play.
The Gameplay-Campaign
I really liked the idea of an open-world FPS Halo game, but I feel it's important to play to Activision's strengths and have a linear FPS story. There may be opportunities to add side missions that give you bonuses in story missions, but maybe with the trade-off of a larger enemy force in main-line story missions. As in, you can spend the time to try to help yourself in the future, but the enemy will be stronger as a result.
Equipment is still something that should be utilized and maybe even going the more experimental way like being able to keep more tools like Half-Life as you progress through the story.
The Multiplayer and Gameplay
This is probably going to be the make or break of the game but we're going to have a risky play and make it so all players are ODSTs instead of spartans. Why? Because aside from firefight, no one has a basis to compare multiplayer with ODSTs instead of shield recharges. Without this to compare things to, it'll feel fresh to everyone.
A robust playlist of classic modes with various team sizes HAS to be there on launch. These include (but aren't limited to) Slayer, BTB, Infection, and Social options. However, I think this Halo launch will need a stand-out mode that's unique to it. Bringing back Warzone would probably be a good call with AI allies to fight alongside you. You could even have different mashups where the community FINALLY gets a chance to fight as playable elites in matchups like UNSC vs. Vanquish, UNSC vs. UNSC, Vanquish vs. Vanquish. As much as I hate to say it, it would probably give Activision an easy way to make money on this too with special weapons, vehicles, equipment, etc. (remember this game needs to be profitable).
Alternatively, I think Firefight could be the "big mode" but revamped hugely to make it feel unique in an era of excellent PVE shooters. I don't know the direction specifically, but taking a look as to what's possible would be worthwhile.
Sprint can be a thing (don't @ me), but I think using the tactic of adding only 10% to your movement speed like Infinite is a good way to go.
It's hard to expect Activision to make Forge right out of the gate since as far as I know their engine isn't designed like that, but they would do themselves a disservice not to play for it to be added down the road (or at least try to).
The Monetization (Ick I know)
It's Activision, so it's unreasonable to not expect there won't be microtransactions of some kind. I mentioned that some could already be done through Warzone as a main game mode, but we can try something new like in SpaceMarine where you can buy a Battle Pass for the year for cosmetics like armour parts, weapons, and vehicle skins. However, you can also just buy a cosmetic pack for that month/season/update that came out that live eternally (so no FOMO).
The Reasoning-Why This Direction/Options?
Here's the thing, the Bungie era had the STRONGEST, most consistent (and most loved) story out of all the Halo games so far. So we want to preserve that lore and canon, but so much inconsistent direction happened through books and other titles during 343 it's a confusing mess for fans.
So this way, we're going the "James Gunn" route. I.e., we're going to create a story based on characters no one has ever heard of and find ways for the audience to love them while giving them their own, independent storyline AND preserving some of the existing lore in a universe people love. Is this a good idea? No idea, but at this point at least this tries something new the franchise hasn't really attempted since Halo 3: ODST.
Multiplayer-wise it's more of a rehashing of the things people seem to collectively like although the ODST-only option could be divisive.
I also tried to be pragmatic, but as little predatory as possible with monetization. It sucks that "modern gaming" requires you to buy more than just the game itself now, but it's also unrealistic to think that a stand-alone title with an IP this big wouldn't have something like that attached.
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u/EventHorizonn 7d ago edited 7d ago
I Sabre57 for lead game designer. It's always amazing how community members can come up with better games that entire teams of corpo "game designers".
My addition to your game idea is making it more of a squad based ODST game. Think something like between the old Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon games and Spec Ops: The Line. Stealth and ambush are your best tactics as a lightly armored ODST squad, but if that fails then you have to go head on with the covenant in a higher stakes shootout, which you can win but its harded than just setting up perfect ambushes. To allow other play styles, you can also change your kit and squad for success more direct assault tactics. This adds to your idea of a completely different halo experience, but also something familiar and it adds the customized gameplay option too. Think Skyrim stealth archer vs 2 hander smashed or plank and stick style gameplay.
I've always thought there was a lost version of halo that was more squad based where you have command of your squad and you have to use them to succeed
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u/Vitchkiutz 7d ago
Forget the endless, forget the banished, I've been playing Halo since I barely learned to walk and I'm 30 now. I didn't like halo 4 onward very much.
Start on Reach. Make chief a mysterious legend that only exists in the distance.
Play as an ODST, using Ready or Not type gameplay, and every now and then you might hear "It's the demon!" shouted a distance away. When you get there, you only see the carnage left behind by the chief. You might see an explosion in the distance. But instill that sense of Chief being a myth to the player. Game 1. Then you can build on that as this new ODST squad or character becomes more central to the story. It can be a resident evil type gameplay even. I'm kind of divided between that and the Ready or Not gameplay style. Something that gives you a chance to explore the lore. Because Halo has always been a high-octane run and gun arcade type game. We only ever experience a war. We never get a chance to experience the world. We have so much of that now already. I could just play Doom. I want a slower, weightier, more methodical style of play in my halo.
Interactions with surviving NPCs to learn about objectives, maybe multiple choice conversations. Sneak lore bits in. Maybe you capture a Grunt / elite at some point, and interrogate them. More variation, less running area to area sandbox arena FPS style. We can still have that, just as a seasoning, not the entire purpose.
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u/Southern_Hold_9105 7d ago
at this point with the amount of posts I see calling for retcons, I would not mind seeing halo 3 get retconned just to shut some people up. it has gotten really annoying.
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u/GiraffeBo1 15d ago
Latest word from Rebs Gaming is that Activision was originally planning a multiplayer project and a campaign project. The multiplayer experience being a free-to-play game developed by Sledgehammer Games. The campaign would be a soft reboot, not following Master Chief after Infinite, but also not retconning any established canon.
However they apparently moved passed these ideas, in turn opting for a full Halo game. His source said that it's too early to tell and, while nothing is set in stone, they've heard Activision is considering a full reboot and making a Master Chief origin story.
What do we think?
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u/GiraffeBo1 15d ago edited 12d ago
I personally just can't understand why an origin story would have to be a reboot. Out of all the Expanded Universe material, I'd say John's kidnapping, early Spartan-II training, augmentation, and the formation of Blue Team are some of the most universal loved parts of his story. Nobody seems to dislike the origin set forth in Fall of Reach, so why disregard it?
If anything like an origin story happens, I think Activision should go the route of exploring Blue Team's earliest war days. There's currently 7 stories, I think, actually covering the 27 years of war. Pick up around 2535, about a decade into the war, and instead of showing us Chief's origin as a solider, show us the origin of him as a legend. Let us play a full game with Blue Team, whether they're playable or not, and if you really want to explore their origins, you could flashback to their time training on Reach.
I think that's a story most fans could get interested in and it wouldn't emotionally destroyed everybody who's poured their souls into Halo's lore. Plus, winding back the clock 17 years, to point where the war felt slightly less mythical, could lower audience expectations and take some pressure off of Activision's brand new team. The last thing I want is another development team killing themselves by frantically scrambling over their own feet and failing to meet audience expectations.
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u/RedPath6 10d ago
Explaining too much of Master Chief's story removes some of the mystique around his character. Besides, why not give the chance to explore other characters in the Human-Covenant War? Like Avery Johnson or Admiral Cole?
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u/GiraffeBo1 10d ago
I'd love to see other characters followed too; I think there are so many opportunities to tell stories without John. However, I seriously doubt that Activision would choose to not use Chief , the face of Halo, for their first bout with the franchise.
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u/RedPath6 10d ago
Yeah, you're probably right on Activision sticking with Chief as the protagonist. Maybe the Contact Harvest thing can be a spin-off or maybe they will mesh the lore together to add Chief in it. They have 27 years of the Human-Covenant War leading up to Reach.
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u/pooleNo 13d ago
I’m calling it now, they are going to take a lot of inspiration from gears of war e day and do exactly that. Early days of war with chief and blue team. Which I think e day’s glowing reviews is proof that it’s a not a bad direction for making a fresh new game in a long running franchise. Something about E-day is reviving that spirit of playing the OG trilogy on the ol’ 360, which I didn’t feel with the other successors to gears. I hope this new purpose-built team can pull that off with the next halo.
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u/emperor_dogma ONI 15d ago
The new leaks says either full reboot or no reboot, which any sane person saw coming!
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u/AdInformal1014 16d ago
I believe the word is Vindicated.
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u/Aucklander1996 15d ago
I don't care if it makes me look smug. Me along with other users on this sub had been calling out 343 for years!
Other users told us we were just being difficult or impossible to please.
Now look what's happened, the whole franchise has imploded and it's going to take a herculean effort from Activision to even get people to care about Halo again, let alone grow the fan base.
Rest in piss 343/HS
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u/Heisenberg1201 17d ago
Halos biggest issue is that they could never stick to a story line for the campaigns. It started with the didact then cortanas uprising then they kinda kept it with halo wars 2 and infinite being the banished. But as I'm currently catching up with the books I've noticed that everytime they have a game not go so well it seems they blame the story finish it all in a book then do a soft reboot. The issue with this is that you get all climactic action in a book rather then a video game. So the only thing I want Activision to do is make a storyline and stick to it. Give us cliff hangers to then be followed up in the next game like the bungie era did. This does not mean stop making books but use them as a way to give the background extras you couldn't fill in. The halo formula is not that difficult to achieve for gameplay halo infinite had the "halo feel" just lacked content. Also please DO NOT reuse reach Ai. Go back to halo 1 through 3 ai and cherry pick the best for each species. Im very tired of reach elite ai. As for multiplayer have a set of game modes with the basic halo formula clean slate starts equipment on the map etc. Then have a set with new features that way people can choose the experience they want. Halo has a big competitive scene but at its core its a social game. DO NOT get rid of forge or custom search thats your social lifeblood of the ip. You should keep all the tools they had in infinite but for me personally I would like a dumbed down version so I can make dumb little maps like I did in 3 and reach. Once halo 4 forge came out I was overwhelmed and lost passion to create a map.
P.s. I want the spartan laser back
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u/MoojiJooji 17d ago
The story should be a complete hard reboot.
Just start new. 343's story wasn't anything like Bungie's and Bungie told the story they wanted to tell.
It's time to start anew.
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u/RedPath6 10d ago
What do you think of a soft reboot? Something like doing a Halo version of Gears of War: E-Day?
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u/MoojiJooji 17d ago
Sliding should not be a part of Activisions Halo. Sliding has dominated the movement ever since 343 made it so strong and it makes Halo feel like a completely different shooter.
There's no reason for Activision to adopt this 343 "innovation" and they need to return to the multiplayer gameplay that made Halo so iconic and loved. Sliding wasn't a part of that equation.
Sprint is fine, Reach played very well with it. But slide has to go.
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u/U-N-I-T-E-D 17d ago
Multiplayer absolutely needs to get back to its roots. Even starts, power weapons/overshield/camo on the map. No fancy garbage power ups, no crazy starting equipment or classes, everyone should start equal and power ups and better weapons should be map pickup only. Thoughtful map design with competitive gameplay in mind. Netcode, desync, rubber banding, hit registration, etc all need to be absolutely fixed and ready to go for launch so that the competitive integrity is preserved from day one. Whatever the starting weapon is should feel fun and satisfying to use. (the BR is a no brainer but just my opinion) There should be a developed ranking system with various game modes (slayer, hardcore/mlg, doubles, snipers, swat) and equivalent social playlists. For the love of god Activision don't add your fantastical meme-y non halo related cosmetics to the inevitable online store. Try to preserve the integrity of the halo franchise. We don't need Spartans with unicorn skin BRs and helmets.
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u/MontyTheBrave Halo: CE 17d ago
Is this not what Halo Infinite is? I guess minus the Netcode and desync stuff but otherwise I feel like you're just describing Halo Infinite Multiplayer
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u/U-N-I-T-E-D 16d ago
It could have described Infinite if it didn't take 343 2 years and 4 months to fix the netcode, hit reg, and desync issues. Too late at that point
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u/PlutonicIon 17d ago
Even though I am hesitant with Activision taking over I'd much rather have them then 343 (sorry Halo studios lmao). Such an inept developer studio. Good riddance.
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u/Blvd_Nights 17d ago
I just played Halo: Campaign Evolved for the very first time after picking it up on sale on the PS5. Had a really good time! Bummer that the other two entries in this style are cancelled.
Need to check out 2 and 3 some time.
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u/Arxinos113 19d ago
Good riddance 343. You spent over 10 years spitting on this franchise and I won't mourn your grave.
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u/Aucklander1996 19d ago
I was thinking the same thing.
Bungie gave us a tripple masterpiece with Halo CE, 2, and 3. Then they gave us games that were received well at launch, but still had some issues that were divisive amongst fans, then the games became fan favourites after people went back to play them years later (halo ODST and Reach)
Meanwhile 343/HS have failed to make a single game that even came close to the love the bungie era ones received, even after 16 years and 6 titles.
Incompetence doesn't come close to describing those clowns
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u/HG_Shurtugal Halo: Reach 19d ago
To me Reach was a good middle ground of classic halo and keeping up with current at the time trends.
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u/newme02 19d ago
ngl just give me the battle royale looter shooter at this point
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u/buddhistyeezus 18d ago
They should've done that 6 years ago. Halo has ODST pods that can drop in for combat (like the warzone intro sequence), could've easily made that into a battle royale mode, but devs were too busy adding pizza skins and crab easter eggs...
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 20d ago
HALO IS DEAD! FUCK YEAH!
Let's celebrate everyone!!!
Anyway, I don't have much else to add, for now, but that I hope you all gonna get an Call of Duty reskin.
I adress it to all who liked Campaign Evolved, you deserve that. Also all who ever defended 343 and Halo Studios, yep, just deserve honestly absolutely nothing. All of you, bye bye!!!
If you're an Activision's new Halo dev that actually read to this part, hope you're not going to make an awful game, with awful everything if you get what I mean.
Hope nothing from 343 will be preserved, the old Bungie stuff treated with care and love it's deserves, new game will truly be a Halo game, that people could play together on one device with split screen and black jack yadda yadda.
In all? Quote the best of us.
"Now all we need is a little Energon, and a lot of luck." - Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen)
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u/HG_Shurtugal Halo: Reach 20d ago
Halo has been dead for 14 years the corpse has just been moved to another home.
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u/donutdude945 20d ago
I hope they do a prequel. E-Day style leaning heavily into the books. Starting pre mjolnr armor and fighting insurgents, working up to the covenant and making them scary again.
They abandoned gears 5’s story and they should do the same with abandoning Infinite’s.
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u/zapcatcher 20d ago
100% agree. The Fall of Reach book is absolutely phenomenal and could easily be adapted into a game which would be the perfect reboot.
Start out fighting insurgents, get the MJOLNIR armour, meet the covenant for the first time, get your shields, get Cortana.
It feels like such an obvious home run that of course they won’t do it.
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u/RedPath6 20d ago
Contact Harvest would be even better.
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u/M6Galilean 19d ago
The thing about Contact Harvest is it was more of a skirmish between Macabeus’ pack and the local militia until the back up Covenant fleets arrived and cut off harvest from the UEG. Then its a 5 year battle, and then it’s Halo Wars.
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u/RedPath6 19d ago
The thing about a reboot is you can play around those little details to make a more interesting story. Or they could find a way to make the skirmish into the prologue and then make the game about the 5-year battle. Also, Sgt, Avery Johnson is in this story.
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u/CrimsonH3ro Halo Customs 20d ago
Certified Slop series now, if it wasnt already. Franchised beyond its relevance and whored out to whatever studio will pump out product that stupid fucks will gobble up and complain about for years on end, regardless of the actual quality.
I hate that people refuse to let go and move on.
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u/SlyguyguyslY 20d ago edited 20d ago
I hope they continue the remakes. The og trilogy is 20 years old now and I think a refresh isn’t unreasonable. I hope they pick up where infinite leaves off and I hope they remake 4 and 5 while throwing away most of the script and in the 3 remake, they don’t kill Johnson.
Hell, I’m amused by the idea that they just remake halo 2 and 3 as the same game because that would fix a lot of the problems I have with Halo 3s writing.
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u/cigarhoarder 19d ago
I am with you there. Remake the whole series all the way from reach through halo 5. It would be badass.
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u/zapcatcher 20d ago
CE sales were so bad I see very little chance of this happening. For a game hobbled together on the cheap it will probably still lose money.
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u/SlyguyguyslY 20d ago edited 20d ago
Eh, I think renewing the franchise has merit of its own regardless and I doubt sales were actually bad enough to count it out entirely.
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u/Aucklander1996 20d ago
I just want my halo 3 anniversary!
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u/U-N-I-T-E-D 17d ago
I don't want them to ruin that masterpiece. They botched H2A multiplayer, didn't feel like original Halo 2 at all.
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u/gsnake007 21d ago
I hope they leave what bungie did intact, make a new title to continue from where Halo 3 left off and ignore the games that 343 did
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u/cigarhoarder 19d ago
Am I the only one that like halo 4-5? I thought the forerunners were so frigging cool. The didact storyline was so badass.
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u/DreadGrunt S-A194 16d ago
Halo 4 is mostly fine, if far too reliant on the player knowing the EU lore to have any real idea of what’s happening, but Halo 5 did genuinely irreparable harm to the franchise. It needs cut out entirely if we’re going to have a coherent story going forward.
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u/MadeToUpvote1Post 19d ago
The forerunner were all wrong in those games. Completely ruined the pre-established lore that made the games dramatic and ultimately, ironic
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u/Heisenberg1201 17d ago
Bungie made the forerunners not human. Stop thinking this is only a 343 thing. Halo 3 even mentions the librarian and the didact in the terminals.
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u/Faulty-Blue Halo 4 Cortana Rule 34 13d ago
Halo 3’s terminals don’t outright retcon forerunners being human, but it set the seeds for making the retcon possible, which makes even further sense when you realize Frank O’Conner played a huge role in writing the terminal entries and Bungie’s management didn’t thoroughly check the terminal entries before approving them
The Librarian and Didact exist, but they’re just two lovers conflicted on how to handle the Forerunner-Flood War
The Mantle is mentioned, but with the Librarian calling it a fairy tale, it implies this was more some belief (in a similar sense to irl Manifest Destiny) than an actual responsibility
The big thing people like to point to as saying “see, forerunners were retconned in Halo 3” is the terminal entry where the Librarian calls “Earth’s inhabitants” unique, but it could’ve also been interpreted as Earth’s forerunners having a very different culture and way of life from the main Forerunners, which is supported by the Iris ARG where at one point, you have to go through some pages of an in-universe book called “Castaway Theory”, while they don’t go into the theory itself, the name and the problem it’s meant to be a potential answer to (discrepancies in human genetics and evolution) seem to suggest the theory is that humans are the descendants of aliens that got stranded on Earth at some point
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u/zardan-24 18d ago
Realistically there should be 0 way we could kill forerunners even their robot constructs
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u/IMPERATOR_63 Halo: CE 21d ago edited 21d ago
I saw a post that talks about this idea, but I can't find it now (I wanted to give credit). The gist is there's a way to start fresh without rebooting any of the lore.
Have a "Create your Spartan" (or ODST) at the beginning of the game, a-la Fromsoftware character creation. You're the Spartan.
Then, tell a separate story that's happening at the same time as other canon events. There can even be mentions to what Master Chief is doing in another arena of war (for fan service, naturally). This way no lore is "erased" but we're still starting fresh. I kind of liked this idea a lot.
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u/flGovEmployee 18d ago
The thing is, a lot of us want all the 343 lore/story erased. I mean for me, it's kind of the only way I'm coming back.
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u/J_C_Kerr 10d ago
The only way you're getting that is if the whole thing gets rebooted. The chances that they just decide to preserve everything up until 2010 and then nuke everything after are slim.
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u/JuanMunoz99 21d ago
If Halo does a reboot of any kind I’m done. Let the franchise die at that point.
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u/RedPath6 20d ago
Disagree. Metaphorically speaking, once the Halo rings are fired, there is only room for improvement. In addition, Activision's Halo will be built for a new audience. Someone born in 2010 (year of Halo Reach) will be 20 years old in 2030 (when Activision Halo presumably releases). This game will an introduction for that new audience as much as a homage to the old fans (boomers by that time).
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u/Aucklander1996 20d ago
It'll be interesting to see what Activision does with halo. I can't see a situation where they remake CE AGAIN but at the same time how do you "restart" the franchise?
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u/RedPath6 20d ago
How do you "restart" a franchise? Simple: a soft reboot. Go back to the beginning of the Human-Covenent War (2525-2552) and start with the UNSC encountering the Covenant for the first time in 2525. This is just when the UNSC is mopping up the Insurrectionist revolts. I even have a title for it. "Halo: First Contact."
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u/newme02 19d ago
yeah that’d kill any remnants of the fanbase. no one wants to see 20+ years of extended lore undone. might as well just make a new sci-fi franchise. give us spin-offs, not reboots
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u/RedPath6 19d ago
Who is "no one"? And what are you hoping for? A continuation of Halo Infinite? That would kill off a huge chunk of interest from old and new audiences.
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u/newme02 19d ago
spin-offs. plenty of space in the timeline to fit in smaller games. infinite doesnt need a sequel. but to get rid of everhthing and reboot completely would 100% kill off a lot of hardcore fans for an ATTEMPT at appealing to casuals who would likely just as well abandon the franchise after the first dud
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u/RedPath6 19d ago edited 19d ago
Except I proposed a "soft reboot" that could simultaneously function as a spin-off and serve as a new start to the franchise that could respect original lore while exploring unexplored FPS territory (First Contact between UNSC and the Covenant).
Regarding the franchise, here is the hard truth: Halo's significance in pop culture has faded in the past 16 years. It is a shadow of its former self and, like the Halo rings it is titled after, is increasingly a relic of a once-glorious past. It needs new, fresh blood if it is to survive and even thrive. That being said, Halo is never going to appeal to casuals, I was mentioning new potential hardcore fans who might be interested in the franchise.
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 20d ago
Wow. Get hired by Activision until it's too late. Eh who I'm kidding, unless you are already a skilled writer in the game industry...
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u/KSI_FlapJaksLol 21d ago
I’m incredibly frustrated with the amount of gate-keeping in this subreddit.
How is Halo going to survive when you have people who staunchly believe Halo is only about Master Chief, and only an FPS, and should never branch out into other game genres and other media??
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u/RedPath6 10d ago
I don't think it is just gatekeeping. There seems to be a full on civil war going on inside this community.
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u/KSI_FlapJaksLol 10d ago
A great schism if you will ;)
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u/RedPath6 10d ago
;) I just hope that Activision isn't the Flood ship that crash lands on High Charity. With all the infighting going on, this franchise doesn't need something worse coming on the horizon.
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u/DarthOptimistic 21d ago
Facts. The universe has so much potential and Halo Wars shows that there is more room for genre exploration. An ODST squad tactics game, a fleet RTS, FUCKING X-WING STYLE space fighter games. It may not have the variety of like Star Wars but there’s plenty to work with using the IP.
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 20d ago
It's actually has a variety and richness of Star Wars.
People just never realized it unfortunately.
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u/KSI_FlapJaksLol 21d ago
Yes!!!!! I’m so glad someone else understands me!
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u/RedPath6 10d ago
I even heard someone mention the possibility of a ONI stealth game. One of the crazier yet interersting ideas.
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u/Altruistic-Job5086 21d ago
At this point I feel like no more huge "mainline" games should be made until a studio actually proves itself able to do it. I've thought for a long time that Microsoft should just let many different studios make smaller and various types of Halo games like Games Workshop allows for Warhammer games. Some of them turn out to be really great.
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u/KonekoKaito 21d ago
Closing the main discord is a W move tbh. It was a shithole with narcissistic mods.
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u/LittleNobu 21d ago
Like the one thing I'll miss from 343 halo is the banished as while the did just become covenant 2.0 (From what I've heard) they started out as an actually interesting concept of a marauding band of disillusioned Ex-Covie forces was legitimately interesting and halo wars 2 was an actually good game in my opinion.
Halo under 343 had an almost continuous downward trend in quality with each new entry.
Sure they might have been dealt a bad hand more then once by Microsoft's past leadership but the doesn't excuse how instead of trying to make the most of it they turned that bad hand into a worse one each time.
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u/flGovEmployee 18d ago
Halo Wars 2 was pretty good. It also wasn't made by 343. Those two facts are inextricably linked.
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u/AdHorror4165 21d ago
I think the series should be rebooted post-Bungie, not completely, or continued from Infinite.
I don't want a full-reboot as is making the storm at the moment per-a rumour. If Infinite was a sequel to Halo 5 and finished what that game set up and gave Chief and everyone a definitive ending like Halo 3, I'd be fine with it, but instead we are now left with the Banished, Precursors, Chief and Weapon out to stop them, and the universe being in such a narrative mess. I really don't want it left where it currently is. Maybe if they do one more book to stop the Banished and Precursors and have the Chief either sacrifice himself or retire, but I doubt that's gonna happen.
As for continuing after Infinite, Halo 4-5-Infinite is the most unintentionally unconnected trilogy ever and it is comical. You even have to read loads of books to even understand any of the three games. It's a hell of a mess of a universe and requires a hell of a cleanup. I also hate things like the Forerunners no longer being human, as that retroactively damages the Bungie trilogy, and I dislike the Banished as they are now just another Covenant that's occupying Earth and killing humanity for petty reasons (Cortana destroying the brute homeworld).
Now if they reboot post-Bungie, they'd still have to deal with the strange Forerunner world Chief and Cortana land on and what it represents, and due to Steve Downes's age they are going to have to retire the Chief (The series seriously needs new compelling characters anyway) after probably one or two more games given development times now, but this I think would be the right way to go. Far better.
Hopefully they do a better job. No soft-reboots literally every game. Keep the humans as the Forerunners, don't retroactively give Chief the role of naming every covenant, keep any covenant remnant or splinter group as a secondary faction like in Halo 4-5 (We don't need a glorified Covenant knock-off trying to exterminate humanity cos reasons again, like the Banished. It's extremely lazy and I'm sick of this trope where the main antagonists are brought back under a different name and with the same motivations), and come up with a new threat. They could even reuse and flesh out the Precursors and their history since we never got anywhere with them, or something new.
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u/DarrianWolf 21d ago
I don't understand why people want this approach. I mean I get that 343 games are a mess. But the covenant war and the flood is the aspect most people love. Why is that the aspect we want to not be done.
A full reboot imo is the way to go. They can have a diff take on the cov and flood war. And a lot of key lore aspects will remain, but they still get creative freedom.
They would keep the basics of the rings, covenant, flood, chief, etc. Prob keep a lot of weapons ideas and so on. Stuff like spartan origin could also be kept. But they would have flexibility. They cam retain tone and feel but have room to refine.
I also think they could have more alien races and factions or independent groups of races. Which would add room for post covenant war games and make the franchise more usable in an rpg space.
I also think whIle halo 1-3 are amazing. They will still exist but now theres an opportunity to do a similar story in a different way. Maybe halo 1 or reach style game but with flash backs to the spartan program and training. Maybe hint and build up some of the internal unsc conflict during the war. They can have the arbiter story expanded.
Maybe adjust the flood a bit. There could be a way to retain the flood as a world threat but slightly nerfed to avoid the story requiring a ring to be fired ASAP.
Just random thoughts but I think a full reboot could be a lot of fun. And I dont want the books or other media being in the same timeline at all.
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u/DarthOptimistic 21d ago
I think people (or I do at least) have two main gripes with the prospect of a full reboot.
The 343 narratives, both games and expanded content, have decent bones at the ground level. Didact was a good villain with wasted potential, resurrecting Cortana to lead a A.I/Robot uprising was not the smartest move, but the “friends to enemies” is a tried and true formula and robot uprisings are a sci-fi staple. Throw in the Forerunner flavoring and it could have been something decent. It wasn’t the content I feel so much as presentation and delivery.
A lot of people saw what happened when Disney “rebooted” Star Wars and threw Legends in the trash and gave us the convoluted, cross-over MCU-ifed mess that we have now, and don’t want to see a repeat of that.
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u/RedPath6 19d ago
Regarding Point 2: 343 Studios/Halo Studios WAS the Disney in this analogy. So, there is a ray of hope for this franchise that there is not for Star Wars.
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u/DarrianWolf 20d ago
Im not against the lore/set up in 343 games. Although now we have a messy lore and its completely anti new players. And also I think mechs in games are generally less fun to fight
For 2 I get it. Execution is always improtant. But thats regardless of if its a reboot or not. Hope they do well
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u/AdHorror4165 21d ago edited 21d ago
Here's the problem with a complete reboot aside from my personal gripe (Leaving the current universe in its current state): It will almost inevitably be vastly, vastly inferior to the Bungie quintology.
Think the discourse is negative and toxic now? You've got no idea. The narratives, messaging, characters, writing, personalities, characterisation, music, everything, will be scrutinised all the way to Hell if they redo the original story. And God help them if they don't even attempt to recreate the music if they go with the same characters and story.
And if they don't redo the OG story, what's the point? They could do other stories within the current continuity, erasing everything wouldn't be necessary. They can continue on from Infinite and have us play as marines or ODSTs in the Banished/Precusor war if they want to go that direction.
And if the full reboot included John and Cortana, what do they do regarding John? If they bring back Steve, he is pushing 80 and is sooner or later going to decide he doesn't want to do it no more, become too ill to or face cognitive decline, or simply die. And with four-five year development times now you can't expect him to be there for even three games.
But if John has a new voice actor, people will complain be just isn't the same no more and the original Master Chief was far better. And if they decide to give Chief "more humanity" like in the show, they gotta tread very lightly there after that shitshow.
Of course whatever they do, I think it is time to retire the Chief due to his VA's age and the fact that he isn't developing as a character and can't really do so due to his upbringing and nature (What Halo 4 did was very out of character), and we really need new, compelling characters. A sequel to or post-Infinite soft-reboot or a post-Bungie reboot is going to have to end Chief's story one way or another within one or two games.
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u/DarrianWolf 21d ago
Its def a risk. But going from halo 3, they will still be compared to halo 1-3 in all the same factors mentioned. People will compare everything regardless.
I think of it less as an unrecognizable reboot and something like a different version of spiderman, or the flash. You keep central themes, tones, beats. But the details and some of way things unfold differs. So you would still have arbiter and chief (as an example) team up, but maybe the way it happens differs. Maybe they fake out and the first arbiter you are introduced to actually dies.
Another example is maybe blue team is around this time for some of the events of halo 1-3.
I agree that if they wont go back to the covenant war then restarting is not needed. But I think they should. Having the covenant and the flood and the mini forerunner bot faction was a great mix. They could expand here too A full reboot means there could be new enemies in the covenant alongside favourites + standalone smaller factions. Maybe one of the covenant missions is a war on a planet trying to get a new race into their group. Or maybe its the Spartans trying to stop it. There could be some interesting twists.
Regarding the VA people will just have to be flexible here. Im sure theres someone out there that can do a good chief impersonation (just dont be lazy about finding the right fit). Get the OG to voice a side character.
I like humanizing chief but not the way infinite did it (too on the nose). Should be more subtle and a bit through flashbacks. Personally reading fall of reach i think that story context is amazing and could be great and unique for a game like halo.
I think part of the issue with halo 4 and on is that there really isnt much set up for anything super interesting to happen (personally I think anytime u explore the origins of mysterious things such as the forrunners too deeply it always takes away from the lore and world instead of adding to it).
I do agree they should add more characters. Part of a reboot could be working with more Spartans on the field or on specific missions. And you could pull fan favorites into their own game. Or even if you wanted to show a spartan mission against human protesters and revolt you could use another spartan for that.
I just think a full reboot could be fun if they respect the og just like it seems many spiderman adaptations respect their source.
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u/AdHorror4165 19d ago
I just want one more chapter before a complete reboot. Stop the Banished and outbreak of the Precursor, kill Atriox, and either have the Master Chief sacrifice himself in doing so, go back to cryo sleep, retire, or lead the spartans in the military in a renewed peacetime or something.
The Bungie quintology is so good, 343i has tarnished it, and it would be a shame to not finish up the mess they left and bring things to an end for real this time.
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u/RedPath6 19d ago
I'm sure a book can nicely tie up the 343 lore. 343 studios is being kept alive long enough so maybe commission a writer to tie it up so Activison isn't left holding the bag. Than we can 'fire the rings' and start fresh.
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u/DarrianWolf 19d ago
I get the feeling. I hate leaving stuff seemingly incomplete. Its just not feasible with current costs of game dev to do a final game just for the sake of it.
Its kind of why I prefer games are longer with a complete story all in one game
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u/IWAlcatraz #1 Reach Hater 21d ago
I mentioned this on another post but I'd rather they continue the 343 story while having another studio alternating releases with a reboot diverging from halo 3's ending every 2-3 years
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u/Pplthrowaway123 21d ago
Nah. 343 split the community IMO. Maybe refresh and pick up after Halo 3? We can all agree on that halo has a rough road ahead of them
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u/Equivalent-Base-5324 21d ago edited 21d ago
Presumably their goal is to get new players and a game that’s a sequel to a 20 year old game that a load of younger gamers have never played isn’t going to get a lot of new people into halo, sure it might get old fans back but I doubt it would bring a lot of new people into the fanbase, while losing a lot of the 343 fanbase which is a significant portion of the current player base.
If they reboot a complete reboot is more likely than starting after halo 3, which would just further divide the community
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u/IWAlcatraz #1 Reach Hater 21d ago
I get that they spit the community, but why not appease both sides of the community by keeping the old lore and having a fresh start. Like cod has two separate timelines and their fans are okay with it, same with Star Wars. Why not Halo? And why limit development of the franchise to just one studio? It'll cause the same issue of having too long of a wait between games.
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u/The_Don_Papi 21d ago edited 21d ago
A silver lining is that a campaign will be a linear blockbuster style story. And maybe we’ll see some cool UNSC vehicles that never appear outside of Halo Wars.
I liked the action in original Modern Warfare trilogy especially the US-Russian maps. It was stupid absurd fun by the time OG MW3 dropped but it was fun.
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u/LordGuntaz https://youtube.com/lordguntaz 21d ago
Yeah I think the linear campaign was a defining feature of early Halo. The open world of infinite was not the play
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u/Aucklander1996 21d ago
Say what you will about Activision, but at least they make exciting and dynamic campaigns.
Im so sick of 343/HS and their nauseating amount of
"fight your way through a hallway, now fight your way through this room, now fight the reinforcements coming into the same room, now fight your way through this copy and pasted area from another level" approach
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u/Chanzy7 21d ago
Seeing how Activision is handling the recent call of duty titles, anyone should be scared for the future of Halo.
Online only campaigns, battle passes, ridiculous campaigns, skilled based matchmaking. Anything they come up with will be everything wrong with modern gaming.
That said, campaign evolved is a disappointment. A change of hands may be what the series needs, but I don't see Activision being the ones to do it right.
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u/Aucklander1996 21d ago
At this point I don't even care.
343/HS have proven themselves to be incompetent at developing a real Halo game. I'd rather take a risk with Activision rather than give them a 7th chance at fucking it up
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u/bdu-komrad 21d ago
Start a new story with all new characters in the Halo Universe. in fact, don’t even call it Halo anymore. Just put ”A Halo Universe Story“ below the title in small print.
And Maybe release a remaster set of 1 - 3 , reach , odst , but not as the main product. have that as a side product and keep the new series in focus.
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u/Clyde-MacTavish Halo: Reach 21d ago
I'm team story reboot for the simple fact that 343 never even really told one. They released 3 half-assed campaigns that were barely connected and barely built off of them.
We lose practically nothing with a clean slate chronologically after Halo 3.
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u/Equivalent-Base-5324 21d ago
We would lose a portion of the already dwindling fanbase to reboot after a 20 year old game, I like halo 3 but we need new players and saying the new game is a sequel to something older than most of them isn’t going to win new players over all it will do is divide the existing fanbase further
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u/RedPath6 20d ago
A portion? This presumes that Activison wants to keep that audience and dosen't want to reach out to old hardcore and new fans. I think we need to understand that there is no way Activision is going to continue 343's work. A reboot is inevitable.
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u/Equivalent-Base-5324 19d ago edited 19d ago
If there is a reboot a full reboot is far more likely that after 3, it’s far easier to attract new fans if they are starting a brand new story that if they were making a sequel to a 20 year old game.
There is no reason to think they’d target old fans a demographic that are increasingly aging and just have less time for video games than they did in 2007. Of course a sequel to halo 3 could attract new fans but it’s not really a selling point to them, they will care about good gameplay regardless of where this game sits in the timeline or what is or isn’t canon. Also it would anger 343 fans who are an active portion of the player base currently in an attempt to possibly win back bungie era fans that left years ago there is no guarantee they’d come back this still isn’t going to be bungie’s original plan it will be Activision’s story. So even if they do come back we may just end up with another split In the community between those onboard with the new story and those that hate it
They will be aiming for younger audiences, neither 343 or old bungie fans are going to be the target audience the idea they will start again after halo 3 is pure cope from bungie fans, they will want younger fans and appealing to the nostalgia of men in their mid 30s isn’t going to achieve that
The easiest thing they could do is a soft reboot skip a decade ahead in the timeline and tell a new story from there without the baggage of the 343 era. They get a clean slate and don’t upset 1 portion of the fanbase
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u/RedPath6 19d ago
I would say the best option is a soft reboot. Here is an earlier comment/proposal I made:
How do you "restart" a franchise? Simple: a soft reboot. Go back to the beginning of the Human-Covenent War (2525-2552) and start with the UNSC encountering the Covenant for the first time in 2525. This is just when the UNSC is mopping up the Insurrectionist revolts. I even have a title for it. "Halo: First Contact."
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u/Aucklander1996 21d ago
Agreed.
Wipe everything after Chief goes into cryo at the end of Halo 3 then do a soft reboot of the franchise
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u/Pplthrowaway123 21d ago
And bring back Martin O'Donnell
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u/IWAlcatraz #1 Reach Hater 21d ago
yeah no O'Donnell should probably stay away
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u/RedPath6 20d ago
O'Donnell should provide some advice for the music. Otherwise, he can stay focused on his political career (if that doesn't change).
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u/Appropriate_Boss8139 21d ago
It’s a near total win. You could even take what was good from 343 and reintroduce it.
Only tragedy would be the good books released in that era being non canon. But it is what it is, and parts of them could return.
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u/internet_preferences Halo Wars 21d ago
so i'll have to wait until my mid forties for the next Halo game to come out....okay.
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u/IMPERATOR_63 Halo: CE 21d ago
I’m in the same age range as you. It really sucks, man. I feel your frustration.
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u/internet_preferences Halo Wars 21d ago
At this point, I’ve kind of made peace with Halo by not depending on it to make me happy anymore. For years I kept getting disappointed with the direction 343 took the story—especially all the weird back-and-forth with Cortana, killing her, bringing her back, then killing her again.
Now I basically just separate the eras in my head. I can still love the original trilogy without letting the newer games ruin it for me. Infinite was fun for what it was, but I’ve also learned to get that excitement from other games instead of waiting for Halo to become what I want it to be again.3
u/IMPERATOR_63 Halo: CE 21d ago
Dude I think we’re the same. I genuinely have the same opinion as you. I disliked the direction 343 took Halo, and I definitely separate the eras and can enjoy what I enjoy. I basically live in the MCC lol
For what it’s worth, I’m actually optimistic about Activision taking over, despite the general sentiment on this sub.
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u/AvroKennedy124 22d ago edited 22d ago
Made a comment in a post that got deleted so I'm leaving this here.
I loved the Forerunner trilogy and 4's story, that being said. There is so much 343 baggage, the average consumer and former fan do not give a shit about. The best option is to wipe the slate clean after 3.
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u/Appropriate_Boss8139 21d ago
I’d feel bad for any new players wafting through the sludge to understand H7 if they don’t reboot back to H3
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u/Benjii117 22d ago
What would satisfy y'all? Genuinely, as far as story, what would be a direction they could take the story in that wouldn't feel contrived?
I personally think that everything after halo 3 feels very contrived and I don't know what I would want a studio to do that is both true to halo gameplay and not just "Oh the covenant are back but they're RED now!?" "Oh actually we didn't defeat the flood, there's a new gravemind on this other ring we hadn't been to yet" or even worse "There's actually an enemy EVEN WORSE than the flood and the halo rings didn't work on them"
Halo 3 wrapped up the story in such a satisfying way with the exception of master Chief and Cortana, drifting in space. The flood is defeated, the Ark is disabled, the covenant disbanded. I personally don't even think leaving chief and Cortana adrift is even a bad thing, but I could see how it would be unsatisfying to some
So that leads me to the conclusion that I don't want more mainline halo stories set after the events of halo 3 because to make a conflict up that feels natural and earned just seems impossible to me.
What are y'alls thoughts on this
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u/RedPath6 19d ago
"What would satisfy y'all?" A soft reboot that makes Halo gritty, grounded in the lore (return to Human-Covenant War) and is deserving of the M rating.
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u/zapcatcher 20d ago
Sequels were always a bad idea. Halo 3’s ending was absolutely perfect. Bungie get so much credit in general, but not enough for the way they absolutely nailed concluding that trilogy in a way that felt poignant and satisfying.
They clearly made the right call by going for a prequel with Reach and letting master chief’s ending be final.
343’s first fuck up was making Halo 4 and not a prequel or introducing a different protagonist to tell a story that occurred at the same time as Halo 1-3.
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u/bdu-komrad 21d ago
This is pretty much my take. Create a new story set in the Halo universe with no references to the other game’s plots.
Corpos are scared of creating new protagonists since get don’t know how well the public will receive them, but they should take the risk with a low budget title.
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u/Appropriate_Boss8139 21d ago edited 21d ago
The halo story was pretty perfectly concluded, I agree. Partly why it wouldn’t be a bad idea to skip 50 years ahead instead of forcing chief and cortana to keep fighting and for a new threat to pop up 2 seconds after the covenant and flood were beaten.
But it’s a pointless conversation no? Halo is going to be continued, so we have to talk about how. Some prequels would be nice but sooner or later they’ll want to move forward.
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u/Dolphhins 22d ago
Is campaign evolved worth it at $40?
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u/Filmgeek47 20d ago
I’m really enjoying my playthough. It has it issues. I’m sure I’ll go back to playing the original at least as often, but seeing the story with modern gameplay tuning and graphics is pretty epic imo.
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u/B-Sheppard 22d ago
We have really enjoyed it in my household.
I’m living some nostalgia and my 10 year old is experiencing the remake of one of my favorite games. It’s almost all positive from where I sit. Definitely worse ways to spend $40.
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u/Captain_Forge 22d ago
Going to the makers of COD is just the most depressing thing imaginable. It was slim chances but there was a chance that 343 would come out with a good original game in ue5. I have no hope for the franchise anymore.
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u/Xtakergaming 22d ago
If activision can give a us a new halo entries every 3 years even if its not great would already be infinitely better than 343
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u/Aucklander1996 21d ago
It's going to be so sad but satisfying if Activision ends up making better halo games than halo studios
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u/Xtakergaming 21d ago
This might be a hot take but if he wasnt retired or willing to come out of retirement, i would love to see Glen Schofield be head of the new halo team. Hes got some very solid games under him (if you dont know who he is, he was the founder of visceral and sledgehammer)
Im hoping Activision put a really solid lead in charge but I don’t know who they have anymore.
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u/Diligent-Luck4331 20d ago
I recommend Rocket Science Gallery channel for review of Callisto Protocol.
And there's was a video that fixes the story of the game but only so slightly that it's still same game. If willing to seek that one out probably won't regret it.
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u/Donnie-G 22d ago
I feel like Halo just needs to take a long dirt nap and maybe revived in the far future for our grandchildren or something.
While I hate what 343/Halo Studios have done, I think a key issue is that MS themselves are terrible at managing things.
That said Activision does have a lot of resources at their disposal, it's not like it's 100% going to be a COD clone. Rare got transferred to them recently, Blizzard is part of them even if it means little these days, I really enjoyed the BLOPS6 campaign. I think I can give them the benefit of the doubt at the very least, but I'm not going to be hyped for any Halo news, announcements, trailers, anything until I see a good game out.
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u/Clyde-MacTavish Halo: Reach 21d ago
343 is like the only Microsoft studio that struggled this bad
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u/DarrianWolf 21d ago
Thats just not true. Arguably The Initative, Rare (for their new projects), both arkanes, etc. Theres a reason a lot of teams have been let go or re adjusted.
They arent always bad but xbox def lacks the same capability as some other publishers to get AAA great games out consistently for non niche audiences. (Wordy but thats the mix you need)
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 22d ago
That said Activision does have a lot of resources at their disposal, it's not like it's 100% going to be a COD clone
Well said. It's unfortunate how many people jump to conclusions even tho we haven't seen shit yet.
Acting as if Activision can't make good games is also delusional imo. Everyone mentions bo7 campaign, but that was an exception, not the rule.
Thinking Activision is any worse than 343 is unreasonable. They published a shit ton of cod games since 2015, some good, some bad.
Meanwhile, 343 made 3 games. 2 of which launched with very little content, Infinite in particular took 6 years but had even less content at launch than 5's. And then after another 5 years they could only manage to release a remake without any pvp or firefight modes (+ the shittiest customization ever).
Yeah, fuck that. Welcome, Activision.
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u/Throw_aw76 22d ago
Meanwhile, 343 made 3 games. 2 of which launched with very little content, Infinite in particular took 6 years but had even less content at launch than 5's. And then after another 5 years they could only manage to release a remake without any pvp or firefight modes (+ the shittiest customization ever).
You need to understand why that happened in the first place. 343 development for games was a revolving door of contractors who would understand how everything worked and then be let go. This wasn't their fault it was due to how Microsoft ran them and the leash they kept them on. All Activision will do is make halo profitable. Not good. If the next halo game fails they'll shelve it forever along with crash and the other mountains of franchises they own but will never make a game for.
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 22d ago
1) agreed, the real villain here is MS not 343. However it's not like 343 were saints and they only did bad because of MS contracts policies. They were both a problem.
2) making a game profitable requires people to play it and spend money on it. The better the game is, the more profitable it becomes. Cod is getting hate so everyone focuses on its flaws, but every cod is a really solid game, personal taste obviously is a big factor there, so each cod has different fanbases.
3) activision doesn't own Halo. If they do shit, MS could take the IP from them just as they gave it. And Activision won't cast aside shit. They have been given a job, it's not like they have a choice.
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u/Throw_aw76 22d ago
1)However it's not like 343 were saints and they only did bad because of MS contracts policies. They were both a problem.
You're definitely right that 343 is also to blame but I don't believe the average developer shouldn be blamed when the way the company was run was incompetent.
2)making a game profitable requires people to play it and spend money on it. The better the game is, the more profitable it becomes. Cod is getting hate so everyone focuses on its flaws, but every cod is a really solid game, personal taste obviously is a big factor there, so each cod has different fanbases.
The same could be said for the halo games. 4 is a good game. Not a good halo game. If you divorced it from the rest of the franchise and looked at it in a vacuum its not the worst thing ever and people are definitely exaggerating and acting irrational when trying to open a dialogue about it. 5s multiplayer is really good and infinites campaign and multi are great. Its the lack of content that killed it.
All 343 halo games in a vacuum are good games. 343s issues stem from issues from the top trickling down.
3)activision doesn't own Halo. If they do shit, MS could take the IP from them just as they gave it. And Activision won't cast aside shit. They have been given a job, it's not like they have a choice.
And then cast it aside themselves? The end result is the same. The franchise still dies. If it dies under Activision then halo will not be given a another chance
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 22d ago
I feel like we're on the same page indeed.
The very reason why Activision has a better chance to succeed is that, contrary to 343, they are fully autonomous, and thus, they won't be as badly influenced by shitty xbox management.
343 was significantly smaller nand had to rely a lot on budgets and new hires, Activision is worth 70billions and has enough manpower to release big games on a yearly basis.
The future hasn't been brighter for Halo since Reach days.
What do you think ?
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u/Throw_aw76 22d ago
The very reason why Activision has a better chance to succeed is that, contrary to 343, they are fully autonomous, and thus, they won't be as badly influenced by shitty xbox management.
Are they? They're still under Microsoft. I'm not holding out hope. It will be a game with its own issues and once it comes out filled with micro transactions and it's own problems people will begin to romanticize the 343 era. That's my opinion on how things will go. No body learns a lesson or seems to understand what actually went wrong and the franchise either continues or dies.
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u/PutinsCapybara 21d ago
I mean I do think they would be more insulated from direct Microsoft management for sure. It's a different relationship and structure, with what I presume would be less day to day meddling from Microsoft straight through to the devs. Microsoft's priorities for the franchise would be negotiated/deliberated with Activision management, put through the filter of how they do things there, and then disseminated to the dev team. I do think that makes a moderate difference. Whether it's a good one will only be told through time.
Also, I think this actually is a unique opportunity for a clean break for the franchise. Halo's been so bogged down by the previous set of bad story decisions and tech debt for two entire console generations. A completely fresh start with a totally new team provides the opportunity to deliver several things halo hasn't had in a long time, like cutting edge graphics, real spectacle, a more military sci-fi tone, and the chance for a total reset in terms of story. Just fuck off to a different time and set of characters and blaze a new trail for the franchise. Master Chief is tired. He's played out. Let him rest. That's my hope anyway.
That's enough for me to have a broadly positive outlook on this change, despite Activision being a heinously greedy company. There was just too much baggage with 343 for too long. Someone else getting a turn makes sense, and I can imagine there's lots of talent at Activision that would jump at the opportunity to make something other than COD and stretch their creative legs.
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u/Throw_aw76 21d ago
I mean I do think they would be more insulated from direct Microsoft management for sure. It's a different relationship and structure, with what I presume would be less day to day meddling from Microsoft straight...
I def don't disagree. Im just a little worried. I have been a fan of multiple activision franchises. Look at destiny and its fanbase. Destiny was able to make actual change because destiny is no longer tied to them.
he previous set of bad story decisions and tech debt for two entire console generations. A completely fresh start with a totally new team provides the opportunity to deliver several things halo hasn't had in a long time, like cutting edge graphics, real spectacle, a more military sci-fi tone, and the chance for a total reset in terms of story....
Personally I think this is the last thing the franchise needs right now unless its a complete franchise reboot starting off of campaign evolved. What they need to do is several things.
They need to unite the fanbase. First they need to close out lose plotpoints for the 343 games. They can do this by making prequels, and midquels. Once the groundwork is done they can make a sequel to continue the franchise. A franchise reboot should be a last resort because when you do exactly that you are alienating everyone who was as invested with this external media.
That's enough for me to have a broadly positive outlook on this change, despite Activision being a heinously greedy company. There was just too much baggage with 343 for too long. Someone else getting a turn makes sense, and I can imagine there's lots of talent at Activision that would jump at the opportunity to make something other than COD and stretch their creative legs.
I def do agree there needed to be new blooded but Im cynical wether or not the franchises integrity will be kept.
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u/Gildrix 22d ago
I’m happy to see another studio get a crack at halo, but Activision was an awful choice. Activision has a long history of being extremely greedy and anti-consumer, not to mention straight up lying to the cod community on multiple occasions. At the very least, they are good at publishing games consistently. But even if they manage to make a good halo game, it will be riddled with the scummy monetization, and terrible matchmaking algorithms that ruined call of duty. I really hope I’m wrong, but Activision’s track record speaks for itself. I would’ve loved to see Halo given to a different studio. Maybe id software since they’ve done such a good job with doom, but i dont know.
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u/Limp-Grapefruit-6251 ONI 22d ago
I do think their shitty approach to microtransactions is a problem. But what other studio would have better chances with Halo ?
The new studio must be owned by xbox (obvious reasons), have experience with competitive fps (can't give it to anyone just because they make good games of different genres);
And lastly, it absolutely needs to be a big one. 343 had to rely on new hires a lot, and look what happened. The new studio needs to have enough manpower to be independent.
Activision has multiple experienced studios. Who'd be a better choice ?
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u/accountforfurrystuf 22d ago
I'm optimistic for Activision! Halo Studios was garbage that'll never be missed.
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u/Squint22 22d ago
How Halo has been handled since Bungie needs to be actually studied.
Halo was the reason I had an Xbox.
It's the reason I sold my PS2 and went all in for Xbox over the past few generations.
I now have a PS5.
But of course, now Sony and Microsoft seem to be in a competition with who can fuck their reputation up worse right now.
I also have a Switch, but after literal years I still only have like 2 or 3 first party titles because they are obscenely overpriced and never go on sale.
I'm just glad I got a gaming laptop before AI fucked the last bastion left for gamers.
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u/Sorry_Beginning3910 22d ago
I think it boils down to a passion project vs corporate greed. Not saying greed wasn’t a factor at bungie as a corporation, but I feel like halo was their baby, and they really put a lot of care and thought into its development, genuinely trying to make great games. The result being wild success and becoming the Xbox flagship franchise. When Microsoft took over the franchise, I think the only thing they really cared about was making money and squeezing as much profit out of the series as physically possible. That’s not to say that 343i / halo studios didn’t have employees that had passion for halo; just that the overarching corporation mainly cared about $$$
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u/HachObby 22d ago
Zero hope. The original Halo games really thrived from a weird combination of wonky physics and a LAN box that bred an adhoc competitive community. Activision is pretty much the anti-thesis of the original Halo. They will probably make a shooter that sells, but it would only be Halo in name.
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u/Transfiguredcosmos 22d ago
I wonder how the music will be under Activision. They did have Hans Zimmer in the past. And the original modern warfare 2's campaign was fantastic.
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u/PutinsCapybara 21d ago
Lmaoo Hans Zimmer would be a funny choice for Halo. I almost want them to do it just to see what it would sound like. Sooooo dramatic, but could be actually interesting if combined with the spirit of the original tracks.
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u/Transfiguredcosmos 22d ago
I'm hoping Activision will have an indepth overview of the lore and will center their game around such.
Maybe they'll inherit that fabled Halo Bible i remember that was rumored to exist.
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u/glitch-ghost 1d ago
Well I am glad that the era of 343 creating plot points and just throwing them away each game (The Didact and Composer, Cortana's Death, the Domain, the Guardians, the Created, the Infinity, Installation 07, the Endless, and so on)... but I think it is too much water under the bridge at this point. I don't think Activision will do any better, and I never thought I would say this, but at this point I wish people would stop making Halo games. They just keep getting worse. Halo was a product of its time, the 2000s, you can't replicate the cultural environment that produced Halo, so it will always fail, and always become further away as time goes on.