Today Microsoft and 343 announced the next instalment in the Halo universe. It’s called Halo 5: Guardians, it’s all about Master Chief’s journey in moving on from the events of Halo 4, and it will be out in the fall of 2015 on Xbox One.
“Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger effort than Halo 4,” 343 general manager Bonnie Ross wrote on the Xbox Wire today. “That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine. Certainly there are some core elements carried over from prior games, but we’ve invested a huge effort in retooling our tech to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware and ecosystem to create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen.”
Ross didn’t offer too many specifics about the game, though she noted that the next big Halo will have dedicated servers and run at 60 frames per second. The Steven Spielberg-helmed Halo television series will also be out in fall of 2015, according to Ross.
So what about this year?
“Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year,” Ross wrote. “I spoke about a ‘journey,’ rather than a destination — and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that Halo fans will be pretty excited the special plans we have in store.”
During a presentation in Los Angeles this week, the 343 team told a group of journalists that Halo 5 will be running on a brand new engine. They mentioned a few times that Halo has always been a huge element of the Xbox platform, and that they’re aiming to “move the needle on the Xbox ecosystem.”
They weren’t willing to divulge much more just yet — save for flashing a sunny image of Master Chief holding an assault rifle mirror-imaged underneath what looked like a female spartan holding a battle rifle set against a desert-looking backdrop — but we should have at least a few more details you’ll be interested in soon. E3 is just around the corner, after all.
Comments
55 responses to “Halo 5: Guardians Announced For 2015”
Can’t have one of the biggest franchises release more than a year after the new console. This is very ridiculous. I’ll obviously buy it but I think from a marketing standpoint it was very poor oversight that allowed it to either slip into a later release date or plan to release a year after the XBone release.
Halo 3 released almost 2 years after the 360. Super Metroid released 3 years after the SNES. Zelda: Ocarina of Time was about 2 years after the N64.
Yep. Once honeymoon sales are over, bring in the big guns. MGS5 and GTA6 are sure bets to move consoles.
GTA6 is at least 5 years away. Definitely no sooner than 3.
Oops that’s stupid I doubt they’d release GTA6 so soon, if anything we’ll get next gen GTAV, similar to what The Last of Us is getting. And I’m assuming that will come with all DLC (if they launch any paid ones before release) and an imminent PC release.
RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!
!!!
You wish, buddy!
I wish, too… 🙁
Sometimes, the anticipation of something good coming works better than that. So was the case with MGS4, Killzone 2 and God of War 3, and… erhm, Final Fantasy XIII.
Also Gears of War and Halo 3, both a year or more after 360’s launch
Yah, the reason Halo 5 didn’t come out earlier in the Xbone’s life is because of a ‘marketing oversight’. Like, Microsoft just plain forgot about Halo being important to the platform and only just remembered.
More fuel for my tinfoil hat theory that the xbone wasn’t supposed to be launched until holiday 2014.
Urgh, I guess it was too much to ask for them to change the artist.
and Halo 5 is the beginning of the Journey? I thought the beginning was with Halo 4 when they announced a new trilogy.
It was, but they’ve since scrapped the word trilogy for saga.
and they’ll scrap the word saga for series.
Note it doesn’t say anything about Halo 5 being the beginning of the journey, but rather that 2014 is the beginning of a journey starting with a giant leap instead of small steps or whatever…..which makes so much sense.
It’ll just be an original halo trilogy port for XB1 I’d guess
I’d be a sucker for a remake collection for the XBone.
Sold.
Im there too
remake halo 2 and ill go buy the xbox one
Probably realised they wrote themselves into a corner with 4 as far as “trilogy” goes
They wrote themselves in a corner when Chief punched a Nuclear device and they forgot that it’s not something you can just walk off.
Crazy theory… The female Spartan is Cortana? The visor is kind of her blue.
Or it’s the guy from Dead Space…
2 characters featured on the cover art might imply decent campaign coop again. The best bit of 3 was playing 2 player with Chief & the Arbiter
Agreed!
Although the way the image is presented I’m leaning more towards the Halo 2 campaign, playing from two different viewpoints.
I hope not, they botched that up. Not enough time for either campaign to fully flesh out.
That was Bungie though, not 343i.
Then why bring up Halo 2?
and if we’re going by what 343i has done, which is Spartan Ops, then I’m already yawning.
I brought up H2 because it is an example of differing POVs of which I was referring. Just because, in your opinion, Bungie did a poor job there does not mean 343i would too.
343i also did H4’s main game, which no doubt you’re aware, and I enjoyed that, was good making it more personal.
If we’re going by the campaign then I’m still yawning as I found that to be incredible boring. Only positive note it has over Spartan Ops is that I at least finished the campaign.
You’re very cynical mate, I’ll give you that. Plus side for you is that you can save $100.
@nomad Cynical? I spent the last 3 years defending Halo: Reach, even from complaints against Armour Lock. I like Splinter Cell: Blacklist despite disliking Conviction and still believing Blacklist doesn’t capture the real spirit. I can point out the positive traits in Resident Evil 6. I’m even that one guy who believes Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is the best PoP game ever created. When I look at Halo 4 all I see is uninspired gameplay and level design, most of which are ripped straight from previous Halo games. With mechanics that are lying and weapon variety that doesn’t exist.
I actually agree with you Neo Kaiser. The only parts of Halo 4 that I liked were the cutscenes and the dialogue really.
One major qualm I had were the weapons. The Covenant weapons were similar but exotic enough that they felt distinct. These “Forerunner” weapons felt so “meh”. I think that the people designing the new weapons went “Hey, let’s just make energy versions of the human weapons and make it just flashy enough that it looks ‘sci-fi’”.
A lot of the levels were very lackluster as well. The few notable ones were only notable in that the Covenant and Forerunners were fighting. Further than that, it felt a lot like the actual layout of the levels were far from their minds.
Wasn’t Halo 2 kind of rushed near its end of development? More than the usual crunch period, I mean.
I liked the Arbiter and his story, I always felt it was a shame that that half of Halo 2 was poorly recieved enough that they decided to minimise the Arbiter’s story in Halo 3.
On the other hand, I loved everything about Halo 3 (besides fighting the drones and level 8 on legendary) so I dunno. Go Halo 3?
Halo 2 was scrapped during production and was then rushed to make the deadline.
While i hated the Arbiter as a kid, as an adult I liked how he made the Covenant not seem so black and white. The problem isn’t what they were trying to do with him, it was that he was sharing air time with Chief and the main story and neither side could be fully fleshed out.
On top of that, Halo 2 made changes that many people consider to be for the worse and convinced new people of a playstyle that was different from the original game. So they were already annoyed at the game which could have added to the story.
Yeaaaah I never got into “weaker weapons, but you can dual wield them!”
Or Master Chief vs evil Spartan tech?
Ahaha, ahahahahaha! Oh god, I would totally believe they would go for a simple black and white story like that.
Yep, it would be a concerning road to go down.
Ok, the wife and i are now excited for this
It is not about the journey, it is about Destiny?
Cortana turned into a human using the Composer and then shoved into Mjolnir armour? Maybe.
Plot Twist – (possible spoilers for Halo 4) – The female Spartan on the cover is Cortana, who used the composer to make herself mortal instead of dying on the station.
I swear if they actually try that I’ll give up on the series. That’s just too dumb even by Hollywood standards.
God, it’s so plausible too. I mean, in-universe it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but from a storytelling perspective you can totally see them do it.
CORTANA WAS THE ONLY POTENTIAL FEMALE LOVE INTEREST IN MASTER CHIEF’S LIFE, AND NOW SHE’S DEAD FOREVER
OR IS SHE
and since Chief was holding her data chip thingy in the Halo 5 trailer, she’s PROBABLY going to be back in some form.
man, so dumb. I’m mad at your hypothetical situation.
No. She was never real to begin with. All in his head. Now he dresses in drag and has multiple personality disorder.
Really hope they don’t give MC a love interest. Spartan 2’s aren’t meant to have any sex drive. Also hoping Cortana won’t be back. As much as I love her, a story about the Chief moving on is much more interesting than trying to work her back into the story.
Holy shit, my wife is a Spartan II.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Perhaps less “love” more companionship?
YOU TAKE THAT BACK. YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW DAMMIT. CORTANA + MASTAH CHEEF 4 EVA
After 343’s uninventive, derivative and boring take on Halo, I’m already dubious of Halo 5. But if that female Spartan is Sarah Palmer, then I’m out …
Anyone else annoyed that this is constantly at the top of the page?
Yup. 🙂
FINALLY – a game for the Xbox One I’m half-way interested in. I’ll probably get this, since I enjoy playing the Halo games with my brother. Then again, Halo 4 was pretty….. middling, to be honest, even as a co-op experience.
Watched 5 hours worth of the Halo series cutscenes edited for chronological order on youtube. Was well worth it! Pumped for Monday so I can find out more.