Bonnie Ross, general manager at 343 Industries, made the announcement early this morning on the Official Xbox Blog. Ross talked about the future of Halo and the new journey that faces Master Chief when she stated: “Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger effort than Halo 4. 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 also stated that the game will run at “60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade”
Halo 5 was first announced at Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference last year but since then there has not been much news about the game. However, Ross promises that will change, “Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. 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 about the special plans we have in store.”
Finally, Ross also said on the same blog, that the Halo television series, which has several big names collaborating with it such as Stephen Spielberg, will also “complement and enrich the game experience.” Ross then pointed out that the television series is projected to launch on the fall of 2015, and we will hear more news when we get closer to that date.
It certainly looks like Halo fans have a lot to look forward to in the future. A turning point for Master Chief, a true next-gen Halo experience and the Spielberg produced series (if it’s as good as Forward Unto Dawn we’ll be happy) shows that fans have a good reason to be excited.