No one should be surprised that 343 Industries is already working on what’s next for the Halo franchise. It’s already been two years since the release of Halo Infinite. And with development cycles only getting longer, work could already be underway now, and it would be years before we play it.
343’s Community Director Brian Jarrad sat down with Xcast host Parris to chat about Halo Infinite and the Halo franchise. Towards the end, Jarrad comments about the franchise’s future.
“As I look further ahead, I definitely don’t think Halo’s best years are behind us. I think there are a lot of really cool, exciting things on the horizon. Some things are further out. Folks that have been kinda keeping a keen eye might notice that we’ve started sorta posting some job postings again. The winds are blowing, we are starting to look ahead to the future,” says Jarrard.
He quickly followed that up with the studio doesn’t have anything to say on that front for a while.
Those job listings he mentions do point to the next Halo game. The Lead Game Designer position specifically mentions: “Collaborate with 343’s Studio Design Director and other key stakeholders to define future Halo experiences.”
The Audio Director listing is similar and reads, “lead the audio team to deliver on the audio vision for future Halo titles across internal and external teams.”
The mention of “external teams” might catch some attention, but the franchise hasn’t been solely developed by 343 Industries/Bungie. Ensemble Studios brought us Halo Wars. Certain Affinity is also working on a Halo project with 343 Industries.
Plus, with Microsoft recently finalizing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard – there’s always the chance we could see one of the many studios working on Call of Duty try their hand at Halo. I would love to see two developers, id Software or Machine Games, acquired in the Zenimax/Bethesda acquisition get a crack at the franchise.
While we hear a little bit about the future today, the present is doing great. Halo Infinite has seen a resurgence lately as the dev team continues to deliver on their post-launch support. Earlier this week, the team dropped Firefight: King of the Hill as part of a mid-season update for Season 5.