Next Halo moves to Activision in reported reboot

Halo is getting a new maker. Microsoft has put Activision in charge of the next game in its long-running science-fiction shooter series, with a new team set apart from the Call of Duty teams to look after it.

The handover was confirmed in September, as Xbox set out plans to cut 268 roles across Halo Studios, the division that previously led the series. That cut forms part of a wider reset announced in July, involving 3,600 planned job losses overall, according to the BBC. Halo Studios will no longer lead development. Activision will, according to Pure Xbox.

What Activision plans to make is still rumour. Details published on 2 October come from Rebs Gaming, a creator known for Halo coverage, and have not been confirmed by Microsoft or Activision.

According to that report, Activision's version is planned as a reboot that could revisit the origins of Master Chief, the armoured hero at the centre of the series. That would place a familiar character at the start of a new story, rather than continuing directly from where the last main entry left off.

Rebs Gaming also reported that Activision first proposed two separate releases. One was a free-to-play multiplayer game, open to all players without an upfront price. The other was a campaign-only game, focused on a solo story. The campaign prototype was described as a soft reboot. It would not follow the story of Halo Infinite, the 2021 release, but it would not erase established events either.

That plan has since changed, the report said. Activision later chose a single package combining campaign and multiplayer instead of splitting them in two.

The work may sit with Sledgehammer Games, the Activision studio best known for Call of Duty. According to the report, teams inside Sledgehammer have sketched out and prototyped basic gameplay ideas for both the proposed campaign and multiplayer, including ideas for player movement. The prototyping reportedly used the Infinity Ward Engine, the internal development toolkit behind recent Call of Duty titles. An earlier report from August had already said Xbox was considering an Activision studio for Halo, and named Sledgehammer, according to Eurogamer.

Rebs Gaming cautioned that the project is in early development, so plans can change. Nothing has been announced. No title, no release date, no platforms.

For fans, this means a wait. Halo defined Xbox for more than two decades. A new developer, a possible reboot and early prototypes point to a long road before anything is shown in public.