Even with all the shifts that have been going on inside Xbox for the last decade, the recent confirmation of Activision officially taking the reins of the Halo franchise over from Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) might be the biggest disruption we've seen at the Microsoft gaming wing.
The series has had genuinely fantastic campaigns and so much deep lore that has dropped via games, spin-offs, and books. However, with an aging franchise on its hands and a fanbase that isn't showing up in big numbers anymore, there is a big possibility of the new caretakers deciding to start everything over from scratch.
The franchise has definitely been struggling for years now, attempting to find its identity after Bungie left the stage to focus on separate projects. As for recent releases, despite Halo Infinite's fun gameplay, its promises of long-term support quickly fell apart. The pivot to making a reboot of the first game in the franchise also didn't hit the market in a big way, despite it breaking Halo's exclusive lines and launching on PlayStation for the first time.
Activision could wipe the slate clean and pick up with Master Chief and Cortana going up against the Covenant once again, putting players back into another war. However, with that remake right behind it, this route could feel like it's doing the same thing over again. The company may also ditch the original cast entirely and tell a new story involving the Halo rings and the fight surrounding them.
But there is also another option. The new team could reboot the universe but only after the events of Halo 3, cutting away the bloated, confusing narrative threads of the "Reclaimer Saga" that 343 spent a decade tangling up. This gives the opportunity to keep the surviving cast of the original war intact while also taking the series in a new direction, perhaps without Master Chief at the helm.
Letting the armored hero finally rest and keeping him on the sidelines as a legendary figure or a mentor would honor the legacy of the franchise. With a soft reboot, a new Spartan, or an entire squad of them, could then take the protagonist role.
If there is one thing Activision knows how to do, it's making a shooter feel incredibly tight. Even the worst-received Call of Duty games have hordes of fans that swear by the gunplay and movement mechanics. If everything goes to plan, combining that polish with a campaign and multiplayer that heightens what Halo is, this might be the revival that the franchise has been looking for all this time.
