By November 2025, Halo Infinite will be four years old, and the Halo franchise overall will be 24 years old. In that timeframe, Halo Infinite has remained the only Halo game to be released in the 2020s, causing many fans to worry about the franchise’s standing in the modern gaming market. While Halo Infinite’s multiplayer seasons and operations as well as expanded universe content have been relatively well-received since 2021, it's about time for official news about upcoming Halo titles. With Halo Infinite turning five years old and the Halo franchise turning 25 years old in 2026, fall 2026 could be the best if not the latest opportunity to reveal the next major Halo game.
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The History of Halo Game Announcements
The Halo series has never really had a consistent structure when it comes to announcing and releasing game entries compared to similar franchises such as Call of Duty. While development of Halo: Combat Evolved can be traced back as early as 1995, Halo wasn’t officially revealed to the public until July 1999’s Macworld Conference & Expo, about two years before Halo: Combat Evolved’s official debut in November 2001. Halo 2 was formally announced a year later at September 2002’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, but due to development issues, Halo 2 wouldn’t be officially released until November 2004. Halo 3 wouldn’t be officially announced until about two years later at E3 2006, with the game officially debuting roughly a year later in 2007.
Ensemble Studios’ Halo Wars was similarly formally announced in 2006 at Microsoft’s X06 trade show, but Halo Wars wouldn’t be released until just over two years later in early 2009. Halo 3: ODST was initially announced as Halo 3: Recon at 2008’s Tokyo Game Show but was soon thereafter retitled to H alo 3: ODST. A full gameplay demonstration of ODST was later shown at E3 2009 and shortly after the demo, Bungie formally announced the development of Halo: Reach, just over a year before Reach’s debut in late 2010. Halo: Reach was the final Halo game developed by its founder Bungie, but the franchise’s new stewards, 343 Industries, officially began their tenure with Halo by announcing the release of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary at E3 2011.
343 Industries’ Original Halo Game Announcements
Alongside Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary being announced at E3 2011, 343 Industries also officially announced the development of Halo 4, about a year before the game’s debut in late 2012. Halo 5: Guardians was initially announced at E3 2013, though the game had no official title or release window detailed at that time. More details of Halo 5 would come at E3 2014 alongside the formal announcement of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. While Guardians officially debuted in late 2015, 343 Industries and Creative Assembly previously announced the development of Halo Wars 2 in August 2015 at Gamescom. Halo Infinite would later be first announced at E3 2018, but due to development issues and conflicts from the COVID-19 pandemic, Infinite wouldn’t be publicly released until late 2021.
A few smaller Halo games were revealed and released following Halo 4’s debut, including Halo: Spartan Assault announced at 2013’s San Diego Comic-Con, Halo: Spartan Strike announced in 2014, Halo: Fireteam Raven announced in 2018, and Halo Recruit announced in 2017.
Halo’s Future Development Projects
For a good chunk of Halo’s history, it seemed that Bungie and 343 Industries began a trend of announcing the official development of at least one Halo game a few months after the release of a prior title. However, in the wake of backlash from Guardians and internal issues at 343 Industries and Microsoft, game development on Halo games appeared to slow substantially in the 2020s. With Halo Infinite’s initial ten-year plan for spearheading the Halo franchise likely being scrapped following internal issues surrounding 343 after Infinite’s release, the future of Halo games seemed to be in limbo. This was until 2024 when rumors began to appear of either Halo 7 or a Halo: Combat Evolved remake being in development.
These rumors appeared to be somewhat supported during the 2024 Halo World Championship when 343 Industries officially rebranded itself as Halo Studios and announced that future Halo projects will be developed with Unreal Engine 5 through an initiative called Project Foundry. Several test images and models of Halo in Unreal Engine 5 were released with this announcement, featuring a Mark V armored Master Chief in an Installation 04 or 07-like environment as well as a Flood-infected Halo ring. With most of these images harkening back to Halo: Combat Evolved, many fans speculated that these images were clear evidence of a Halo: Combat Evolved remake being the next major Halo release.
A Potential Reveal Window for Halo 7
Later rumors and job listings seemingly suggested that Halo 7 was being developed as a follow-up to Infinite or that both Halo 7 and a CE remake are currently in development. Regardless of which game is in development, Halo fans can speculate on when the next Halo game may be announced. With 2026 being Halo’s 25th anniversary, many fans believe a Halo project of some kind could be revealed at the upcoming 2025 Xbox Games Showcase in June or potentially at the 2025 Game Awards. However, if Halo Studios has only recently begun development on the next Halo game, as Project Foundry’s announcement suggested, the next Halo game may not be revealed till 2026, possibly November 2026 at the latest for the series’ exact 25th anniversary.
Halo Infinite
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 94%
- Released
- December 8, 2021
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- 343 Industries
- Publisher(s)
- Xbox Game Studios
- Engine
- Slipspace
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
