Halo 6 Already In the Works, 343 Industries Says

[John Keefer]

Halo 6 Already In the Works, 343 Industries Says


With Halo 5: Guardians getting closer to release, it shouldn't be a surprise that developer 343 Industries already has a plan for Halo 6.

Most cornerstone AAA franchises have a long-term plan, unless you are Konami [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142478-Rumor-Konami-Drops-AAA-Games-in-Favor-of-Mobile-and-Soccer-Titles]. So it really isn't a shock that, with Halo 5: Guardians due out next month (see the new teaser at right), developer 343 Industries already has the groundwork laid for the next game.

"We do kind of know what's going to happen in the next game pretty well at this point," franchise development director Frank O'Connor told GamesRadar [http://www.gamesradar.com/343-has-started-halo-6-and-knows-whats-going-happen-ten-years-now/]. "We're doing serious real planning and even some writing on the next game already, and that's a luxury - we've never been in that position before. So we both know at a very high level what's going to happen in, say, 10 years from now. But at that very granular level knowing what's going to happen in the next game and that's just been a great feeling for me."

Apparently the plan has been in place since the development of ODST and Halo: Reach, one that laid out 20 years of "fictional foundation."

"You can look at the ending of Halo 4 - and where Master Chief is and obviously we had to know where we were going to take Halo 5 and Halo 6 with that," said 343 studio chief Bonnie Ross. "You have an epic sci-fi universe and we have multiple ways that we can go with this story, but all the pieces are laying there. The canvas is there for us to paint."

O'Connor said that having that plan allows them to decide how to evolve the story, although nothing is set in stone because of potential development changes.

While we all ponder what could be next for Master Chief, we still need to find out what happens in Guardians, which is set for release on Oct. 27 for Xbox One.

Source: GamesRadar [http://www.gamesradar.com/343-has-started-halo-6-and-knows-whats-going-happen-ten-years-now/]

Permalink

 

[seiler88]

Oh for the love of...

ENOUGH ALREADY!

 

[Nooners]

The Halo universe is so much more complex than it has any right to be. I wish there was a big Halo-themed RPG, so we could really enjoy the universe as something rather than an FPS.

 

[Asclepion]

I am reminded of a certain Critical Miss strip. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comicsandcosplay/comics/critical-miss/10352-Xbone-Week-3]

 

[ecoho]

I love how everyone assumes this will be bad, seriously stop this shit. the new one releases in a month if its horrible feel free to ***** and complain, until then stop freaking out about a game that you know nothing about.

 

[Thyunda]

I love how everyone assumes this will be bad, seriously stop this shit. the new one releases in a month if its horrible feel free to ***** and complain, until then stop freaking out about a game that you know nothing about.

There is nothing more presumptive and irritating than a game released with a planned sequel. Worse, with a written sequel. What that means is they don't care whether you like Guardians or not. Don't like the new direction? Whether it turns out massively unpopular or not, it's here to stay. The sixth game is being written on the same foundation as the fourth, not the fifth, which means it's gonna be nothing but stagnation. How can you write a game for a constantly changing audience if you're using the same groundwork for three titles?

That's why people are bitching. It's idiotic and it makes assumptions. Too Human was planned as the start of a trilogy.

Look how well that went.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Look on the bright side: Halo hasn't become as fungible as Call of Duty...yet.

 

[09philj]

Back in the day, Halo was a fun mess. Now it's just a mess.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I love how everyone assumes this will be bad, seriously stop this shit. the new one releases in a month if its horrible feel free to ***** and complain, until then stop freaking out about a game that you know nothing about.

There is nothing more presumptive and irritating than a game released with a planned sequel. Worse, with a written sequel. What that means is they don't care whether you like Guardians or not. Don't like the new direction? Whether it turns out massively unpopular or not, it's here to stay. The sixth game is being written on the same foundation as the fourth, not the fifth, which means it's gonna be nothing but stagnation. How can you write a game for a constantly changing audience if you're using the same groundwork for three titles?

That's why people are bitching. It's idiotic and it makes assumptions. Too Human was planned as the start of a trilogy.

Look how well that went.

The sequel is not written already; they've started doing the planning for what it's going to be about, and they've done some writing on it. There's not some great stone tablet sitting in 343 HQ from which they will never deviate. If you want a comparison, Too Human is ridiculous- that game was a mess not just on a story level but on every level of development, and it wasn't the idea of it being the first part of a trilogy that was the most damaging. Instead you might try something like the MCU, where they have a 20-year plan that certainly does present challenges to writing, but isn't necessarily a death knell for quality.

They say this plan was in place during Reach and ODST, which means they've made at least 3 good titles since it started.

As well, your argument flips partway through: Either the game is a juggernaut that is going to keep pushing in a direction regardless of how the audience thinks, or it's all going to stagnate by being based on the same game. Given that the latter argument is kinda silly -it clearly has been building on previous games, and there is no way that Halo 6 is going to be written by people who have no idea what happened in Halo 5- the former is more likely, though it is still 'idiotic and makes assumptions' that a successful game company has no idea how to make games.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Neat I guess. I wonder if they'll bring in more characters from the books. I'm still excited that Kelly, Linda, and Fred are finally going to be in the game. Took them long enough.

 

[mysecondlife]

They're Halo Studio. Don't tell me you expected more or less from them.

 

[blank0000]

I love how everyone assumes this will be bad, seriously stop this shit. the new one releases in a month if its horrible feel free to ***** and complain, until then stop freaking out about a game that you know nothing about.

There is nothing more presumptive and irritating than a game released with a planned sequel. Worse, with a written sequel. What that means is they don't care whether you like Guardians or not. Don't like the new direction? Whether it turns out massively unpopular or not, it's here to stay. The sixth game is being written on the same foundation as the fourth, not the fifth, which means it's gonna be nothing but stagnation. How can you write a game for a constantly changing audience if you're using the same groundwork for three titles?

That's why people are bitching. It's idiotic and it makes assumptions. Too Human was planned as the start of a trilogy.

Look how well that went.

Lord of the Rings? Star Wars? Hell Doctor who/ Game of Thrones/ any min series? Good stories have arc's, it's not crazy to imagine said arc's taking place over the course of time

 

[Vykrel]

Oh for the love of...

ENOUGH ALREADY!

"EVERYONE STOP ENJOYING THINGS THAT I DON'T LIKE!!!"

 

[Thyunda]

I love how everyone assumes this will be bad, seriously stop this shit. the new one releases in a month if its horrible feel free to ***** and complain, until then stop freaking out about a game that you know nothing about.

There is nothing more presumptive and irritating than a game released with a planned sequel. Worse, with a written sequel. What that means is they don't care whether you like Guardians or not. Don't like the new direction? Whether it turns out massively unpopular or not, it's here to stay. The sixth game is being written on the same foundation as the fourth, not the fifth, which means it's gonna be nothing but stagnation. How can you write a game for a constantly changing audience if you're using the same groundwork for three titles?

That's why people are bitching. It's idiotic and it makes assumptions. Too Human was planned as the start of a trilogy.

Look how well that went.

Lord of the Rings? Star Wars? Hell Doctor who/ Game of Thrones/ any min series? Good stories have arc's, it's not crazy to imagine said arc's taking place over the course of time

I note nothing you listed was a game. Let me know when I'm paying £50 per episode of Doctor Who, and I'll take the argument seriously.
TV shows and books are totally different animals to videogames. A decent videogame - even a bad one actually - will take roughly the same amount of time to complete as a whole series of Doctor Who or all of the Lord of the Rings books - just the series, not the semi-connected stuff.

Having more than one season planned or written before the premier of your first episode says only that you're going to have two seasons in the exact same manner. Might as well be one season, then. You haven't developed as a writer in between the seasons, and nor have your characters.

I love how everyone assumes this will be bad, seriously stop this shit. the new one releases in a month if its horrible feel free to ***** and complain, until then stop freaking out about a game that you know nothing about.

There is nothing more presumptive and irritating than a game released with a planned sequel. Worse, with a written sequel. What that means is they don't care whether you like Guardians or not. Don't like the new direction? Whether it turns out massively unpopular or not, it's here to stay. The sixth game is being written on the same foundation as the fourth, not the fifth, which means it's gonna be nothing but stagnation. How can you write a game for a constantly changing audience if you're using the same groundwork for three titles?

That's why people are bitching. It's idiotic and it makes assumptions. Too Human was planned as the start of a trilogy.

Look how well that went.

The sequel is not written already; they've started doing the planning for what it's going to be about, and they've done some writing on it. There's not some great stone tablet sitting in 343 HQ from which they will never deviate. If you want a comparison, Too Human is ridiculous- that game was a mess not just on a story level but on every level of development, and it wasn't the idea of it being the first part of a trilogy that was the most damaging. Instead you might try something like the MCU, where they have a 20-year plan that certainly does present challenges to writing, but isn't necessarily a death knell for quality.

They say this plan was in place during Reach and ODST, which means they've made at least 3 good titles since it started.

As well, your argument flips partway through: Either the game is a juggernaut that is going to keep pushing in a direction regardless of how the audience thinks, or it's all going to stagnate by being based on the same game. Given that the latter argument is kinda silly -it clearly has been building on previous games, and there is no way that Halo 6 is going to be written by people who have no idea what happened in Halo 5- the former is more likely, though it is still 'idiotic and makes assumptions' that a successful game company has no idea how to make games.

Let's see how successful 343 Industries is on its next original IP. See if its writers and developers can sell without the heavyweight brand backup.

I did have a really long post explaining in minute detail why you are wrong, but TalkTalk monitors my conversations and says "Right well you've made too good a point there I'm going to cripple your argument and embarrass you in front of all of your friends" and then cuts my internet.
Which is just me making excuses for my shit internet.

The gist of my post was that writing a whole trilogy of games is creatively stagnant because games evolve and develop based on the reception of previous games. Take, for example, Duke Nukem Forever, which, during its infamously long development cycle wound up trying to retain its original tone while adapting for a changing audience, creating a monstrous hybrid that tried to be self-aware and mocking while keeping a completely straight face. The developers utterly failed to read the audience and paid for it. The problem with 343 and Halo is that they can write any boring shite and still make money off the brand. Sure, that's successful. If you consider money to be the bottom line of artistic merit.
Too Human might have fared better had it been designed as a single game. The world would have been better fleshed out. The plot would have had to close its own loose ends and not leave the player sitting at the end of the bed, naked, sobbing and unsatisfied. The writers withheld way too much content for their hypothetical future games and ended up making a third of a game, rather than a full product.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I'm sure every studio planning on making a sequel for a big franchise has their writers, planners and concept artists, that won't be working on DLC scenarios, start working on the next installment. While they do that, the programmers fix bugs and the level designers/ environment artists work on future DLC maps for the game that's about to hit stores.

Kinda interesting how Cortana gets less opaque and more voluptuous with each installment. I'm not saying they getting more desperate for more sales yet, but I will not deny someone is pushing the 'sex sells' strategy, if at least subtly.

 

[Tsaba]

I am reminded of a certain Critical Miss strip. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comicsandcosplay/comics/critical-miss/10352-Xbone-Week-3]

Somehow, when I read that comic strip, I was hearing the announcer to DBZ.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

How is this news for anyone? 343 and Microsoft have already announced at the start of Halo 4 that there will be at least 3 more Halo games.

And I love how everyone is getting up in arms about this when Elder Scrolls and Metal Gear are on their 8th (yes, eight, including Redguard and Battlespire) and 9th installment respectively. And nobody says a word.

You know, even putting all that aside, Halo has ALWAYS had tons of potential for more games, even after Reach. The universe is so rich, and the combat is so adaptable for Multiplayer and configurable and etc. that I think it takes an important place in console releases as at least a full multiplayer suite.

So please. Stahp.

 

[Elvaril]

I'm still excited that Kelly, Linda, and Fred are finally going to be in the game. Took them long enough.

I had not heard this news. This makes me super excited for Halo 5, as opposed to just regular excited. Those characters are fantastic and I've been waiting for them to make a game appearance for so long.
I've got so much reading to do in the next month before release. Haven't read any of the expanded universe stuff since Halo 4 came out, so I went and ordered the books I'm missing a couple days ago.

 

[camazotz]

I love how everyone assumes this will be bad, seriously stop this shit. the new one releases in a month if its horrible feel free to ***** and complain, until then stop freaking out about a game that you know nothing about.

There is nothing more presumptive and irritating than a game released with a planned sequel. Worse, with a written sequel. What that means is they don't care whether you like Guardians or not. Don't like the new direction? Whether it turns out massively unpopular or not, it's here to stay. The sixth game is being written on the same foundation as the fourth, not the fifth, which means it's gonna be nothing but stagnation. How can you write a game for a constantly changing audience if you're using the same groundwork for three titles?

That's why people are bitching. It's idiotic and it makes assumptions. Too Human was planned as the start of a trilogy.

Look how well that went.

There's an enormous number of assumptions going on here, but I suspect you really aren't in the middle-ground realm of someone who could be swayed by logic to consider that maybe your discontent is derived from something other than a logical assessment of 343 Studios' processes, or any other equivalent studio that does the same (Bethesda, Bungie, Actiblizzard, you name it) in which preparing the next game is an onerous multi-year task that does require a foundation on which to hang the design and implementation of the next title.

And I love the idea of holding up Too Human as a point of comparison to the Halo franchise. That's like holding up Asheron's Call 2 to WoW and suggesting that any second now Blizzard is going to screw up in the same manner.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I'm still excited that Kelly, Linda, and Fred are finally going to be in the game. Took them long enough.

I had not heard this news. This makes me super excited for Halo 5, as opposed to just regular excited. Those characters are fantastic and I've been waiting for them to make a game appearance for so long.
I've got so much reading to do in the next month before release. Haven't read any of the expanded universe stuff since Halo 4 came out, so I went and ordered the books I'm missing a couple days ago.

1) Go to YouTube.
2) "Blue Team Intro Halo 5"
3) You're welcome.