At this point, there's no denying that Halo is Microsoft's flagship franchise. Gears of War is slated to make its grand return next year, and Rise of the Tomb Raider is looking fantastic, but those games are niche compared with Halo's absolutely immense fanbase. Halo is the game that put Microsoft's Xbox on the map — so it definitely makes sense that 343 Industries is already looking toward the future of the franchise.
In an interview with GamesRadar, 343 Industries' franchise development director Frank O'Connor spoke about what's next for Halo. Surprisingly, it wasn't just a series of vague promises and fluffy language: according to O'Connor, work on Halo 6 has already started. It's still very early on in the development process, but it seems like 343 Industries has already laid down quite a lot of the groundwork:
"We do kind of know what's going to happen in the next game pretty well at this point. We're doing serious real planning and even some writing on the next game already, and that's a luxury — we've never been in that position before."
So, does this mean that fans can expect to see Halo 6 next year? In all likelihood, no: with Halo 5: Guardians set to launch in just a few weeks, it's safe to assume that the vast majority of 343 Industries is still working on getting it ready for launch. If anything, the team working on Halo 6 is pulling double duty: pitching and submitting ideas for the next story while the finishing touches are being put on the current one.
Plus, when it comes to gaming development, it's impossible to prepare for everything. It's still far too early to start cementing ideas, especially if it could cause problems further down the line:
"If you start making those stepping stones too rigid, then you're not being realistic about the game development process. That process could change the story but we know what's going to happen in the next game, and we kind of know what's going to happen to the Master Chief ultimately."
On the other hand, Bonnie Ross (343 Industries' studio head), is looking at a much larger picture — namely, where Halo is going over the next few decades.
"You can look at the ending of Halo 4 — and where Master Chief is, and obviously we had to know where we were going to take Halo 5 and Halo 6 with that. You have an epic sci-fi universe and we have multiple ways that we can go with this story, but all the pieces are laying there. The canvas is there for us to paint."
Fans are still waiting to see whether or not Halo 5: Guardians will do the Halo name justice, but one thing's for certain: the Master Chief isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Halo 5: Guardians is set to launch on Oct. 27.
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
