MS Halo Chief Hints at Franchise's Future
Preordering Master Chief sleeping bag now.
January 29, 2009 - If you're like us, you're a bit confused about the future of the Halo franchise. Series creator Bungie has left the protective wing of former owner and publisher Microsoft to regain its independence, and it's unclear what the developer's next project will be. Meanwhile, beloved Age of Empires creator Ensemble Studios is set to be dismantled after the release of Halo Wars next month. The Halo 3: ODST expansion is on the way, too, but we're not sure what will come after. And wait, wasn't there supposed to be a Halo movie by now?
Not to worry, says Microsoft Game Studios' Jason Pace, who oversees the Halo franchise at Microsoft and is serving as lead producer for Halo Wars, Redmond has it all under control. In an interview with the European gaming web site Eurogamer., Pace said there's much more Halo goodness coming your way, and not all of it will be Xbox related.
We tend to view the franchise side of Halo as an entertainment property, and something that we hope to expand in many different directions: both through additional genres of gaming and additional ways to tell the story that may not be game-related at all. So I think it's fair to say we're always looking for new opportunities, new genres to tell the story in. And whenever we find a great fit we'll pursue it.
Note that Pace said "additional genres of gaming," which we assume means expanding the Halo universe past both first-person shooters and real-time strategy games. Might we see a Covenant match-three puzzle game or a Warthog kart racer? There's already been much talk of a Halo movie, but what about a Sci-Fi Channel original series? They could hire the team that put together Boa Vs. Python.
Eurogamer also pushed the producer on the status of the Peter Jackson Halo project and the overall future of the Halo videogame saga, but Pace was mum on both.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/949/949335p1.html
