I'm not a big fan of taking Halo the mmo route at all. I can see it maybe being possible if implemented well but there are so many Halo species that it would be ridiculously unbalanced. How are you going to balance someone playing as a hunter vs a grunt or a engineer? Who would even play as a grunt in the first place when they could play as high caliber characters like spartans, elites, brutes and hunters. Not to mention I and many others would never pay an additional fee on top of xbl gold just to play one game.

interesting and it would be cool to see if they could pull it off but somehow even if it does happen i doubt bungie is going to be behind this...

Personally, I don't think so.

Have people forgotten that Ensemble studios was making a Halo MMO before they were canned? I just don't see it happening.

Came in here to say this.

I agree that a robust MMO is the future of the Halo series, and I think Reach is, story-line wise, the perfect place for it. But I think you're approaching it from the wrong angle. Trying to equate things to MMORPGs like WoW would be problematic. MMORPGs force you to level and get equipment and well balanced parties in order to defeat ever more powerful NPCs. a Halo MMO would be much closer in essense to planetside - a world populated by real people on both sides.

Clearly everyone would love to play Spartans, but there would be limits... for instance only being able to play as a Spartan every X number of respawns, with minimum performance requirements. (i.e. you couldn't quickly die repeatedly on purpose to be one again)

I picture a Halo MMO as a whole planet embroiled in combat - each side securing zones and capturing objectives. Different units would be available depending on what's happening elsewhere. The human players flying in space shoot down the dropships housing brutes? The covenant players may have to settle for respawning as jackals. The covenant players lock off human ships form the planet meaning only fast moving droppods are available, restricting humans to spawning ODSTs, etc. 

And players could effect the space battles the same way. Covenant troops invade the areas powering MAC cannons to give their fleets the ability to close in on Reach. Objectives would be ever changing, and players could effect the ebb and flow of the conflict on a very global scale.

As for a pay model, it could be  more modest than something like WoW. Requiring gold membership is expected, but it could also be inlcuded. The MMO costs $10/month and includes a gold membership or if you already have one the additional fee is only $5/month. Running a Halo MMOFPS would be somewhat lower cost than something like WoW.... Substantially less content is needed for the game itself, and volume subscribers are guaranteed, so a higher volume for lower subscription cost is viable. And this encourages more people to use Live Gold, which opens MS up to other revenue from people. And once a MMOFPS like this is online, keeping people subscribing is as simple as continually adding content. This would be easy - Reach is an entire planet, you can endlessly add objectives and combat zones for people to fight in - and the Halo universe has plenty of room for multiple arenas. Use the same engine to add in the battle of harvest would be easy. Even a smaller scale(but extremely exciting) one where the humans are the troops first leaving the Pillar of Autumn, and play the part of the various marines/ODSTs running missions all over the first Halo ring during the Halo:CE timeline. Getting to take part in all of these massive scale conflicts would keep people subscribing... especially if they made a point to add a new one every 4-6 months.

Ok, and now my ravings are done as well.

< CAPT Piccard forehead slap>

Yeah...I push the post button and immediately saw it before it even refreshed...it was like slo-mo...with me screaming...NNOOOOOOOOO!!!! LOL.

Think about what you're saying for a second...Halo's IP might be owned by M$, but do you REALLY think the guys who created the IP are sick and tired of working on it?  LOL...does that make any sense.  That's like saying George Lucas is tired of Star Wars, or Spielberg is sick of that darn E.T....Marvel and DC are sick of there characters.  No, Bungie split off because they wanted freedom to grow and develop as they saw fit, and M$ was willing to let them because it was more important to keep them happy, then to create a morale problem by having guys start to leave.  Back to the issue at hand:

http://connectedconsoles.com/xbox-Microsoft-working-on-new-experience-in-the-Halo-Universe-.cfm

Microsoft working on 'new experience in the Halo universe'

We've been searching through the job listings again (after we found that Rainbow Studios are currently developing for next-generation consoles) and we now believe that another Halo title is in development other than Halo: Reach. One job listing from Microsoft for the title of 'Animation Director - Halo' states;

"Microsoft Game Studios' 343 Industries is looking for exceptional art talent to contribute to a new experience in the Halo universe."

The second Microsoft job listing states;

"Microsoft Game Studios' 343 Industries is looking for a sharp eye and a deft hand to help breathe a fresh vision into a new Halo experience."

Not only that, but a Bungie job listing states;

"Do you love the challenge of designing great gameplay? Do you have 10 ideas on how to make Halo’s player interface better?"

"If so we have the job for you! Bungie Studios is looking for a passionate, creative and hard-working Gameplay Design Lead for our next project."

Bungie claim that Halo: Reach is their last Halo title. Though if these job listings are for Reach, wouldn't they call the game by it's name and not 'our next project'? We're convinced that we'll see more of Bungie in one of the most respected game series of all time.

i think if huxley actually happens on the 360 and sells decently, then maybe a halo mmofps could happen. otherwise dont think it will happen due to fear of hurting the brand name that is so important to them.

There are ways to compensate...I totally forgot about the engineers (duh...) But in a MMO, it's all about knowing your class' strengths and weaknesses...

When you look at characters in Halo, it's no different...sure...Spartans, Elites and Brutes will be strong, tough combat classes , but in a twitch game having proper support classes become even more important to provide adequate buffs classes.  Maybe grunts are a good class for players to create, maybe Brutes, Elites, Jackals, Engineers are the best choices, with grunts nothing more than NPCs.  The same goes for Hunters…those would probably be best as high level NPCs, along with Prophets.  On the Human side, Spartans would be the top choice for frontal combat, but you’d be able to get other classes into the mix like ODST, Medic, Engineer.  In, WOW…there is others methods and ways to compensate…leveling, gear, buffs…it’s not as hard as you’d imagine.

@ Strategyking…that wasn’t a FPS.

yeah what happened to huxley???
halommo i don't see that happening any time soon... but the theory is nice...
but if the increase of gold membership goes up I don't see why they would need a separate fee... your reasoning works just fine with the current price of a simple gold... the increase of profit is still nice for them and MS would get something better... more controll over the market and way more exposure.... their ultimate plans to some extend is to have XBL as the lead flag of the console concept. right now but especially next gen... not only on consoles... PCs and internet and networks and media.... don't forget cloud computing is at the door... this will change the industry as whole... network control and adaptability will be a key factor... why do you think they try to fight google apple and sony... MS is a software company first... cloud computing is right on point for them.... but they also understood that hardware concepts and "custom" made would be necessary to stay ultimate master int the future... they will extend to any device that will be able to be on a network.... PC, cellphone TVs, media bowin the living room car computers MP3 players, netbooks... they ultimately have no other choice to face the future and keep their shares