Is the Halo 5: Guardians Announcement a Delay or Just an Announcement?
If your response is, "Who cares, man? HALO 5!" I won't judge.
Last year at E3, Microsoft announced that, in 2014, the “journey with Halo on Xbox One begins.” Today, Halo 5: Guardians was announced for Xbox One for… fall of 2015. Some fans and journalists see this as a delay, but with rumors of other Halo plans this year, was this always the plan?
I’m inclined to say yes, but that doesn’t mean the fans are entirely wrong, either. The language of the announcement at E3 last year seemed too vague to not be intentional, and the scope of a Halo game that would be a worthy next-gen sequel has to take some time to be created. I had fun playing Halo 4, but the only things that felt fresh about it were the story and the graphics. I don’t mind waiting a little bit to get something that keeps me interested in the franchise by feeling more like a serious step up from previous games.
Beyond that, the announcement on Xbox Wire, from Bonnie Ross of currenty Halo development studio 343 Industries, mentions last year’s wording and its deliberate nature. Ross also reiterates that Halo fans will be getting some big things this year. Those things are not Halo 5, but they will make good on the promise that Halo‘s life on Xbox One is beginning:
Your Journey Begins in 2014
Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a “journey,” rather than a destination—and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that “Halo” fans will be pretty excited about the special plans we have in store.So until E3, I’d like to express my gratitude to our massive and varied Halo community, whose energy, enthusiasm, criticism and kindness are the driving force behind what we do and what we hope to achieve in “Halo 5: Guardians.”
So, has Halo 5 been delayed? Not really, but I also find it a bit hard to blame fans for feeling cheated. The language used at last year’s E3 may have been a deliberate setup for this plan, but it was also a little misleading, which was no accident, either. If you want happy fans, it’s better not to purposefully pull a bait and switch.
Still, there’s some big Halo news coming at this year’s E3, which is exactly the kind of thing the Xbox One needs right now.
(Xbox Wire via The Verge, image via Xbox Wire)
- Microsoft will finally sell you an Xbox One without Kinect for $100 less
- They’re also readying a whole lot of TV content for Xbox Live’s new TV service
- Hey, all those old E.T. Atari cartridges really were buried, and now they’ve been dug up
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