Halo for Another Six Years

Frank O’Connor, of 343 Industries, and formerly of Bungie, says Microsoft has multimedia plans for the Halo franchise for the next 6 years.  This includes Halo: Reach, announced at this years E3, and recently confirmed, by those who know nothing about the Halo Universe, as a prequel.  More after the hyper-space jump.

343 Industries was created by Microsoft to oversee the Halo franchise after Bungie split from Microsoft.  Rumors have surrounded a handful of developers.  At one point, it was suggested Gearbox was creating the next Halo game, an assertion Gearbox has denied.

What’s really on my mind, and Halo fans everywhere, is: when will we get to play as Master Chief again?  O’Connor hinted that we may get to revisit the fate of everyone’s favorite SPARTAN.

[SPOILER WARNING] If you haven’t played Halo 3, what are you doing with your life?  Also, don’t read past here if the Halo story is something you care about and you don’t want to have the end of Halo 3 spoiled. [SPOILER WARNING]

“I think that [the Master Chief's] fate, Cortana’s fate and the identity of that giant, dark planet at the ending are probably big mysteries that would be irritating if they were just cliffhangers,” says O’Connor.

There you have it folks, Master Chief will live on, but, how is still a mystery.  We still don’t know of Bungie’s plans beyond Halo: Reach, and we don’t know for certain if Halo will live on in games.  After all, Halo has expanded into a multimedia monster, incorporating movies, comics, and music.  Something tells me, though; we haven’t seen the last of Master Chief in video games.

VIA GAMESPOT