Halo

Halo is a military science fiction video game franchise originally created by Bungie, currently developed by Halo Studios, formerly 343 Industries, under Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios. The series launched November 15, 2001 with Halo: Combat Evolved as an Xbox launch title and has sold over 81 million copies across its history. It is one of the most important franchises in gaming, not just for its quality but for what it did to the medium. Halo proved console shooters could compete with PC, established Xbox as a legitimate platform, and pioneered online console multiplayer through Halo 2 on Xbox Live. The franchise spans mainline shooters, real-time strategy games, a massive extended universe of novels and comics, and an upcoming remake in Halo: Campaign Evolved.

In 2022, a Halo television series debuted on Paramount+. Pablo Schreiber starred as Master Chief and Jen Taylor reprising her role from the games as the AI assistant, Cortana. The show mainly had mixed reviews and was cancelled after two seasons in 2024.

The Universe

The Halo universe is built around a conflict in the 26th century between humanity and the Covenant, a theocratic alliance of alien species who believe activating the ancient ring-shaped superweapons called Halos will begin a religious journey to godhood. The Halos were built by the Forerunners, an ancient and technologically advanced civilization that was wiped out by the Flood, a parasitic alien species that consumes and absorbs all sentient life. The rings are not religious artifacts. They are weapons of last resort, designed to starve the Flood by eliminating all sentient life in the galaxy before it can be consumed. This is what the Covenant does not understand, and what Master Chief and Cortana spend the original trilogy trying to prevent.

Halo Games: The Bungie Era

Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)

The Xbox launch title that changed everything. Master Chief, one of the last surviving Spartan super soldiers, crash lands on a mysterious ring world after fleeing the Covenant. He discovers the Halo is a weapon, the Covenant accidentally releases the Flood, and the only way to stop it is to destroy the ring. The game introduced a two-weapon carry system, regenerating shields, a stellar vehicle section in The Silent Cartographer, and one of the best co-op campaigns in gaming. It sold alongside half of every Xbox sold at launch.

Halo 2 (2004)

The sequel that gave the franchise its online legs. Halo 2 launched Xbox Live into mainstream awareness and introduced matchmaking as a concept that the rest of the industry would spend years copying. The campaign introduced the Arbiter as a playable character, revealed the political complexity of the Covenant, and ended on a cliffhanger that sent the internet into meltdown for three years. Bungie’s viral marketing campaign I Love Bees was one of the first major alternate reality games and built anticipation for the launch in a way nobody had done before.

Halo 3 (2007)

Finish the fight. Halo 3 concluded the original trilogy with a campaign that delivered on every promise Halo 2’s cliffhanger made. The multiplayer introduced Forge, a map editing tool that community would use to build thousands of custom experiences. The theater mode let players record and share gameplay clips years before YouTube made that mainstream. It sold $170 million worth of copies in its first 24 hours. The ending, Chief drifting in a broken ship waiting for rescue, set up the Reclaimer Saga without feeling unfinished.

Halo Wars (2009)

A real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios set 20 years before Combat Evolved. Built specifically for controller play and accessible to people who had never touched an RTS. It performed well enough to get a sequel years later, and Halo Wars 2 introduced Atriox, the main antagonist of Halo Infinite.

Halo 3: ODST (2009)

A spinoff following Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, regular soldiers rather than Spartans, navigating a destroyed New Mombasa after a Covenant attack. A quieter, more atmospheric game than mainline Halo. The open city hub and jazz-influenced soundtrack gave it a completely different feel. It is underrated.

Halo: Reach (2010)

Bungie’s final Halo game and a prequel set during the fall of the planet Reach immediately before Combat Evolved. You play as Noble Team, a group of Spartans defending a losing battle. You know from the start how it ends. Reach made $200 million on its first day and is one of the most emotionally effective games in the franchise. Bungie went out on a high.

Halo Games: The 343 Industries Era

Halo 4 (2012)

343’s first original Halo game. Master Chief wakes up from cryosleep on a Forerunner shield world and encounters the Didact, a Forerunner warrior who wants to digitize humanity. The game looked extraordinary and introduced legitimate character work between Chief and Cortana. Many fans consider it a strong debut for the new studio.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014)

Halo 1 through 4 remastered for Xbox One. The launch was severely compromised by matchmaking failures that took months to fix and damaged 343’s reputation significantly. In the years since, the collection has been patched extensively and is now considered the best way to play the original games. It came to PC in 2019 and 2020.

Halo 5: Guardians (2015)

The most divisive mainline Halo game. The campaign split the focus between Master Chief and a new Spartan team called Fireteam Osiris, and the marketing around Chief going rogue was misleading about what the game actually delivered. The multiplayer was mechanically well-regarded. The story ended with Cortana going rogue as a galaxy-spanning AI threat, which Halo Infinite had to deal with the consequences of.

Halo Infinite (2021)

After a one-year delay from its original 2020 launch window, Halo Infinite released December 2021. The campaign returned to a more open approach with a grappling hook traversal system on the ring world Zeta Halo. It was critically praised. The multiplayer foundation was solid but post-launch support was slower than the community expected and the game struggled to retain its player base over time. It was the last game under the 343 Industries name.

The Halo Studios Era

In October 2024, 343 Industries rebranded as Halo Studios and announced a shift to Unreal Engine 5 for all future development. Multiple new games are in development. Halo: Campaign Evolved, a full remake of Combat Evolved’s campaign, was announced for release in 2026 on Windows, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, the franchise’s first appearance on a PlayStation platform. The move to a new engine and a new studio identity represents what Halo Studios is calling a third chapter for the franchise.