Since the release of Halo Combat Evolved, the Halo series has grown into one of gaming’s most legendary series. Although it is regarded as one of the most popular gaming series of all time, the games have fallen off in the present day. How did Halo go from one of the most popular gaming franchises in the world to a last chance to save the series? Let’s find out.

The beginning of the downfall of Halo first started when 343 Industries began creating the games instead of Bungie. The Halo games that Bungie had made were Halo Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, and Halo Reach, which all did well in terms of ratings. These games were all extremely popular and loved by fans. Halo 3 was the most successful game as it sold 14.5 million copies. This was known as the Bungie era, when the Halo games were at their peak.

“I used to play Halo 2 all the time, but eventually I felt like the games kept on shifting away from what Halo was supposed to feel like,” said senior William Zhou.

Eventually, Bungie decided that it wanted to do more than just make Halo games, which led 343 Industries to continue the series. Its first release was Halo 4, which some fans argue was the worst Halo game of all time. The studio introduced new aspects to the game which made it seem like a clone of the Call of Duty games instead of being a fully fleshed out Halo game. This would be the start to 343 Industry’s reputation of producing lackluster Halo games.

After the release of Halo 4, fans were hopeful that the next game would be what they wanted as fans had given feedback on the previous game. Although Halo 5 improved in some aspects, it was still extremely disliked. Thus, the game and franchise’s popularity began to decline as the games could not compare to the ones made by Bungie.

As the franchise kept declining, 343 Industries knew that it only had one more chance to save the series: Halo Infinite, a new game. Fans believed that this game would be the return of the Halo era, as 343 Industries was hyping up the fanbase. However, when the first video of gameplay was broadcasted live on Twitch, many fans were disappointed. The graphics were comparable to past games, which did not make sense as the new console the game is being released on is supposed to be the most powerful Xbox yet. 

“Xbox Series X will lead us into the future of console gaming. Our fastest most powerful Xbox will set a new bar for performance, speed, and compatibility,” said Phil Spencer, the executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft.

Originally, the game was supposed to be released in the winter of 2020, but after heavy criticism and the release of the game Cyberpunk 2077, 343 Industries decided to instead release the game in the fall of 2021. The expectations of Halo Infinite have dropped a bit as audiences have seen the horrible release of Cyberpunk 2077, which actually made Halo Infinite look better in terms of graphics and gameplay. However, fans are hopeful that the pushback of the release date will allow 343 Industries to create a game good enough to bring Halo back into the gaming spotlight.

Graphic courtesy of STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM