I would NOT (oops, typo) place Halo in the Star Wars/Star Trek IP class yet, but it has the potential imho.  M$ and Bungie will have to spend some time and effort to ensure they smartly develop the Haloverse to expand beyond the current conflict in the Halo games, but there is definitely potential.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-10-05-halo-spins-off-products_N.htm

About 2.5 million people have bought the latest Halo 3: ODST game ($60, for Xbox 360) since it was released two weeks ago, a nice reception for a game that doesn't star Halo main man, the Master Chief. Instead, players control a squad of futuristic special forces known as Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) deployed to fight off the enemy forces of The Covenant attacking Earth.

Already Halo 3: ODST has generated more than $125 million in sales, continuing the success of the franchise that had sold more than 27 million so far. "That's pretty good for a game that most called an 'expansion pack,' " says analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities.

But that's not the only activity in the Halo universe. Several projects are in development, set in motion by the 2001 blockbuster video-game release, Halo.

Video games
Another game, Halo: Reach is in production by Bungie and due next year. "It's a prequel to Halo 1," says Frank O'Connor, creative director for 343 Industries, a division of Microsoft that handles all things Halo.

A first-person shooter with an additional multiplayer mode, Halo: Reach "is a chronological prequel but it is not a prequel in the directions the Star Wars prequels were to the (original) movies," says O'Connor, a co-writer on 2007's Halo 3. says. "It will cover events in and around the planet Reach," where the invading Covenant first attacked humankind in the Halo story line.

Comics
The five-issue Marvel Comics series Halo: Helljumper hit its midpoint with Issue 3 having just arrived in stores. (Issue 4 arrives Oct. 28.) It follows two of Halo 3: ODST's characters, Dutch and Romeo, on an earlier mission. "You get a little back story on those guys," O'Connor says, "and you also get to follow them in action a way that you cannot in the video game because you are often playing as the Rookie."

A new series, Halo: Blood Line, beginning Dec. 23, is about super-secret operations conducted by superhuman cybernetic Spartan soldiers. Could the Master Chief, a Spartan, be involved? "The Spartans in that series are only identified by number to keep and maintain secrecy so there's no way to find out because they wear helmets and identify each other by numbers," O'Connor says.

Videos
Halo Legends, out on home video next year, is a collection of seven animé episodes created by five of Japan's top studios. Episodes will be previewed this fall on the Halo Waypoint channel on the Xbox Live network (halo.xbox.com).

Halo Waypoint will be a hub for Halo content, including video, audio, podcasts and screenshots, O'Connor says. "If you think about Halo Wars, Halo 3 and ODST and eventually Halo: Reach, we will be able to cross-pollinate some of the career aspects of those games."

Books
Out next month from Tor Books is Halo: Evolutions, a collection of stories from Eric Nylund (Halo: The Fall of Reach), Tobias Buckell (Halo: The Cole Protocol), Robert McLees (Halo 3) and Karen Traviss (Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant). In the works: a trilogy from Greg Bear (Quantico), with the first volume out next year. "It is set in the Forerunner part of the canon, which is literally a prehistoric civilization that spans the galaxy and is responsible for all the mysterious artifacts in the Halo universe," O'Connor says.

Action figures
McFarlane Toys has a sixth wave of Halo action figures out this month (prices $10-$13), including "The Rookie" from Halo 3: ODST.

Still, some bigger Halo questions loom. What about the Halo movie?

A big-screen theatrical mission, originally planned with director Peter Jackson, is on hold. "We're being very careful to pick the right time and the right partner," O'Connor says.

As for Master Chief, odds are he will be seen again. "I think that (his) fate, Cortana's fate and the identity of that giant, dark planet at the ending (on the game's hardest skill level) — that's a spoiler — are probably big mysteries that would be irritating if they were just cliffhangers," O'Connor says.

"We do have a plan that goes out at least six years," he says. "Eventually, it will become very apparent that there is a plan for the way the canon all ties together and the way the comic books and the novels all tie together."

For me it is personally better than Star wars or Star Trek.

It is not very Science fiction to me because it all sounds possible that we would have a future like this. It sounds like an human future that could be possible...Colonizing worlds, have to fight rebels creating super soldiers....Nothing that made me go 'Ok now it is just typical fantasy stuff' 'This all except covenant encounter ofcourse'. Then again the covenant story is very great. They are not just aliens. And I am a big fan of the Sanghelli Race. Reading the books and experience the halo universe through their eyes is the best. (Wants an Covenant game a bit like in Halo 2 were you coul play with the arbiter).

If only Bungie did a bit better not to messing up the story I would be very happy with all of this.

And some people still say that Killzone got massive marketing... THIS IS REAL MASSIVE MARKETING...

Don't get me wrong, i like the Halo franchise, i just mentioned the above because of all the people that don't know what is a big franchise, big hype and big marketing, and believe that the internet hype alone is gonna create massive sales...

Well Killzone 2 got massive marketing it is just that Halo got marketing that is beyond massive.

I'm fine with anything Halo, once it adds to the story, and creates more awesome games, and books (big fan of the Halo books). Can't wait for Halo Legends, it'll be a nice addition to my slow starting Blu-Ray collection.

So you have video games, comics, anime, books and action figures. For those that think this is over the top milking, Tomb Raider, Sonic the Hedgehog, Resident Evil and many others have had the same stuff listed above AND some even had theatrical movies.

Yes, Halo is popular. But don't act like its something unprecedented and Microsoft is milking it dry.

Halo cannot even be compared to starwars/startrek ever..... everybody in the western world knows of starwars/startrek and most people worldwide know of them, wheras 1/4 of my household have heard of Halo. Females make up more than 50% of the population, out of that 3 billion not many will have hear of Halo. In India, population 1.1 billion (random country I picked) over 90% will have heard of starwars (even peasants), a few million at most will have heard of Halo.

We are talking about the USA not the world.  And in the USA pretty much everybody has heard of Halo in some way shape or form.

All MS and Bungie has to do now is release a Halo movie and they would definitely be jetted into the realms of Star Trek and Star Wars.

Wow - not bad for a game series that started off as an Aliens ripoff. CE was nothing more than Aliens rebadged - from the Space Marines - to Ripley as Master Chief - and the weapons, even the drop ship.

Still, they figure out a way to roll with it and continue to make hits out of it.

Star Wars, Star Trek? No. Never. I couldn't see conventions for Halo. Nope. Never. And I like the series.

Mario, Pokemon, Megaman, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy (specially VII), etc.