343 INDUSTRIES
With no Halo in sight, the wait for the next big announcement can’t come soon enough for Microsoft and 343. 2017 hasn’t exactly gone off the way they hoped, what with the cancellation of Scalebound and the Crackdown 3 delay leaving a large, gaping hole in their release schedule to round out the year. Hence why Microsoft went all-out on PUBG, which might have saved a little skin in the process, and its ‘hey, look at all these games that are in 4K now’ Xbox One X launch.
Having a new Halo isn’t exactly a winner either, especially given how rocky the franchise has been of late. Halo 5 didn’t exactly set the world alight and 343 has put a lot of fans out with their many changes to the franchise since taking over. But Halo is still Halo, and one big release with a heavy emphasis on what made the franchise a fan favorite would certainly help to bolster the Xbox One brand going forward, as long as the studio has learnt its lessons from the past.
Halo itself is still a brand that can be explored in other areas too. Master Chief is the key, sure, but if Bungie proved anything with Halo: Reach, it’s that a good story and plenty of action within the same universe can still be effective. Give the Chief one blisteringly powerful finale, then look towards the future with a broader narrative stroke. Either way, 343 has a big year ahead of it.
