Halo fans were left suitably confused when Microsoft announced the next installment in their long running franchise as Halo Infinite. For a studio that had stuck with numbered games for each previous title – including Halo 5: Guardians – it seemed like an odd new path to travel down. But Halo 6 is most definitely a reality, even if it’s not the game’s official title.
Fans can fret no more as 343 Industries, the developer behind the last two installments in the Halo franchise, have confirmed that Halo Infinite is Halo 6 in all but name. The announcement came via a recent Mixer broadcast from lead writer Jeff Easterling, who was answering fan questions about all things 343 related when he was quizzed on the game’s name (skip to 1:22:20 in the link to hear what he has to say).
“It is Halo 6,” Easterling revealed. “You should just consider it as Halo 6. Don’t think of it as a weird prequel kind of thing. It’s the next story. It’s the next chapter in what is going on.”
The news should provide a bit of relief for Halo‘s large fanbase, who had been a bit concerned that Halo Infinite would be some form of MMORPG and have no bearing on where the series’ single player campaign would be going after Guardians‘ ending. The game was teased during Microsoft’s E3 2018 press briefing, but it was only shown off to the assembled crowd – and beamed to those watching around the world – as a demo to unveil 343’s new Slipspace game engine, which will be used by the company for all future developed video games.
Very little else is known at Halo Infinite, other than the fact that players will once again reprise their role as Master Chief, aka John-117, as he looks to halt Cortana’s master plan to rule the universe alongside other artificial intelligence who have become rampant due to the end of their life cycles.
Halo Infinite isn’t expected to land much before 2019, with rumours circulating online that the single player campaign will be followed by the multiplayer aspect of the title in 2020.
