Notably, Ymir, B.C.-born Pablo Schreiber (The Wire) is portraying iconic Spartanhero Master Chief, while Natasha McElhone (Californication) plays Spartan-II creator Dr. Catherine Halsey and Jen Taylor reprises her long-running role as the voice of the AI Cortana.
We get a glimpse at all of them here.
Halo is set to premiere sometime in 2022 on Paramount+ in the U.S. While that service is also available in Canada, its content lineup differs significantly from its U.S. counterpart due to the licensing agreements. It remains to be seen whether the series will also be on Paramount+ in Canada or on another service.
While there have been smaller live-action Halo adaptations in the past, Paramount’s series marks the culmination of a years-long effort from legendary director Steven Spielberg to bring the series to the big screen. At one point, it was set to be a movie, although it’s since shifted to a big-budget series. Spielberg remains attached as an executive producer.
It’s been a big few weeks for Halo. The iconic series celebrated its 20th anniversary in November, so Xbox has marked the occasion with the early release of Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer that month, and the full game, including the campaign, on December 8th. You can read more on the game in our review and interview with developer 343 Industries.
It was a big way to celebrate the iconic sci-fi series’ 20th anniversary, but it also meant that half the game — the campaign — was still to come in December. Picking up 18 months after the events of 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians, Infinite‘s story follows longtime Halo hero Master Chief as he awakens to fight the aliens known as The Banished on the mysterious Zeta Halo ringworld.
Along the way, he’ll uncover what happened to United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and, more importantly to him, his old AI friend, Cortana.
While Infinite takes many visual and thematic inspirations from 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved, the game also makes significant changes to the tried-but-true Halo formula. In particular, Infinite introduces a semi-open-world setting in which the Chief can take approach main and story missions in many different ways. With that in mind, MobileSyrup sat down with two of the key developers of the campaign, who discussed how Infinite offers player freedom, the design philosophy of the Grappleshot, improving boss fights and more.
MobileSyrup: How did you land on the premise of this big UNSC/Banished battle having happened while Chief was out of commission, and then the player lands on Zeta Halo to figure out what happened with that and Cortana through core story moments and environmental storytelling? Having all of that happen between 5 and Infinite feels like a bold choice.
Paul Crocker, associate creative director: Our goal was always to make this spiritual reboot. And to make the spiritual reboot, we wanted to assume no knowledge, and also, not many people have to jump through a “previously on Halo.” Which I appreciate is an interesting perspective, because, as we’ve seen in some of the reviews, “there should be a ‘previously on…’” But I think there’s a bias towards you think something’s missing that isn’t actually missing. Because the franchise is so big, you assume that you’ve missed something.
Whereas, you know, I’m not trying to compare the two, but the best example I’ve got is one of the more recent Star Wars movies where they didn’t start with saying, ‘well, there was this thing that happened, then this thing happened, this thing happened.” [The movie] just kind of started. The reason that we move time forward [in Infinite] was so that all of our characters, all of our heroes, were experiencing the story in the same order as the player. We wanted a mystery for Chief to be trying to solve, which was what happened to Cortana. And for that to work, we needed to make sure Chief didn’t know the answer to that question. For Chief to not know the answer to that question, we wanted to make sure that there has been a period of time where Chief wasn’t in action, which meant he had to be unconscious.
So basically, it was about stacking the deck so that all the characters started the game in the same perspective as the player, which is a bit of “what’s just happened?’” To me, it was all part of trying to build a mystery story, as opposed to just starting with a list of ‘well, all these things have happened, and here’s the bad guy and everything.’ It’s like, ‘what has actually happened and how are you going to learn about the relationships between Chief and all these other characters? How are you going to learn about what happened to Cortana?’ And these elements all came together through the whole team incorporating ideas into this thing where you start from a defeat, and then work your way back to a victory.
And it’s funny, because [the UNSC] can never really win. Like, if it did, we wouldn’t be on the sixth version of a Halo game. [laughs] But we really wanted to be in a position where we were setting up new things to happen in the future as well. We put characters who don’t know each other in a room together, and push them towards a conclusion that isn’t exactly what you think it’s going to be, with an enemy who’s not exactly doing what you think they’re going to be doing, and just layering everything else around it.
Q: Having beaten the campaign, I was impressed by the level of polish, especially for this being your first (quasi) open-world game. With the game originally set to release last year, what were the areas of focus? Was it mostly just on visuals and bug polishing?
Crocker: Really, it wasn’t a year. It’s easy to assume it was a year, but it was a year in COVID time. [laughs] And it was a year on the last stage of the game. The amazing thing was a) we got feedback and b) Microsoft supported us, so we were able to almost pause and just sit down and play the game a bunch. Because the game was actually nearly finished. It was exactly where it probably should have been. There were some things that we weren’t very happy with, and there were things that just weren’t actually finished when we had to show it to the public.
But really, our goal was to sit back, play it, look at what’s working, look at what’s helping to make that kind of new Halo experience, and then dig into each of those and see what we can do to improve things that were already working. Because I think the kind of knee-jerk reaction is to look at the things that aren’t working and try and level them up. But the truth is we took as much stuff out as we polished, and we really just focused on improving the things that were part of our mission statement and making the best Halo game we could.
Steve Dyck, character director: Thanks for the compliments on the polish level. That is a spot where we did spend a lot of time making it feel more curated. We spent a lot of time working on pacing, from the standpoint of, like, “the Golden Path takes the player through this point, to this point, to this point.” If everything’s dialled to 11 along that path, then it starts feeling pretty flat, even though everything’s pretty intense. So we reassessed a lot of the encounters, a lot of the combat, and just dialled them in.
We touched every single boss fight and made sure some of them got intros offer a little more personality. The bosses, obviously, we kept tuning. We did a lot of tuning, as well, just to account for some of the other difficulties. Typically, Halo has always been developed with Heroic first as a difficulty. With the goal of this game being a spiritual reboot and trying to onboard more players, or new players, we had spent a lot of time focusing on Normal difficulty, and there’s obviously a lot of games for us to look at. So this gave us a little more time to get into Heroic and Legendary and go after creating the experiences that players expect there.
But it’s [also] been great to see people reflect on the level of polish that the team was able to put in a game because they really wanted to. The team felt that too. The year before release, if you rewind a year, we showed the game, but like [Crocker] said, the game was there — it was just lacking some polish in key areas. So certainly there was our art fidelity — we got time to plus up the art and stuff like that as well. It was time well spent. Even though it wasn’t a full year, it was enough time for us to get the game to where we really wanted it to be.
Crocker: I think it also coincided with things like, at the point where we had more time, we could also start sitting in a room together at times and talking about stuff and actually get people playing the game together. We had a bunch of play stations where we actually just had five TVs and five different platforms and were just playing together. Which sounds crazy, but we hadn’t been able to do that. In the development of [Infinite], I would have every Xbox dev kit in a pile on my desk. But it didn’t make any difference — I couldn’t share that part of my screen with somebody else. So we couldn’t talk about it.
And everyone was in the same kind of position. But then one day, it was like, ‘okay, it’s safer now to go in.’ Now, we have our COVID policies and everything else around that, but being able to sit in a big room, separated, and play the game and actually talk about it is a thing that just hadn’t been able to happen for a long time. And it seemed like a small thing at the time, but there was a whole bunch of trepidation and problems and everything else that goes along with that. But then, straightaway, people were like “wow this actually pretty cool, we should be making it better.” And that was probably not such a turning point, but a great moment for the team.
Q: I read a [GamesRadar] interview where you talked about how the Grappleshot was controversial at first within the team. Once you’d finally settled on its inclusion, how challenging was it to implement, especially considering how people can do crazy Breath of the Wild-style navigation tricks with it? How did you design the world around it?
Crocker: The Grappleshot was developed with the sandbox team to support elements in both multiplayer and campaign. That’s how the studio works — the sandbox team developing ideas and trying to see what’s a good fit. The reason it was controversial is when you’ve got a history of building linear levels, you are in control, as a developer, of the experience. And the “band-aid” you have to rip off is, basically, you’re not in control anymore.
And truthfully, that’s the thing that had to be done anyway for the game, regardless of the Grappleshot. Because it was very much about our ethos of “super-soldier base assault,” and we wanted to make sure that everybody played the way they wanted to play. So really, the only thing that Grappleshot brought to it apart from navigation was it filled in the mid-range. Halo‘s always been on the ground, with vehicles on the ground, and in vehicles in the air. And then the bit where you were in the middle of that was when you jumped out of the vehicle when it was flying. So what we did was we gave you the ability to quickly be in that mid-ground, mid-height, so you can go on top of a building — you can get on top of whatever. And I think the natural inclination, particularly in the early days, is for [us] to try and stop players from being able to do that. Because it’s like “a bug” or it’s not what “I intended.”
And then just bringing everyone on board — getting everyone around the idea of, “No, no, that’s what we want, we want you to feel powerful.” So just because the player does something, the game shouldn’t say “you shouldn’t do that and drop a million enemies on them.” It should say, “Oh cool, you’re doing that, eventually, we’re going to bring up the challenge level.” Because you’re in a position of strength, but for a period of time, you’re going to feel powerful, because you’re in that position — you chose to be there. And the same was true for basically everything we did in the game, because we always just wanted the game to say “yes.” Can I drive a vehicle? Yes. Can I drive it off a cliff? Yes. Can I drive it into the middle of a base and start combat? Yes. And once you have that mentality, everything else evolves from that.
Dyck: To speak to it kind of being controversial. Halo has got a very passionate fanbase, [and] the studio is very passionate about Halo as well. So when you do something like adding a new piece of equipment that’s going to be there 100 percent of the time in campaign, or even the decision to create more open [areas] that are close to like an open-world, those aren’t things that we’re like, “yeah, we’ll just throw it in there, and people will be cool with that.” We’re as critical of ourselves as the fans will be, so we need to make sure that it’s right.
And like [Crocker] was saying — traditionally, every beat of a Halo game has been very curated. It was like, “the player’s going to enter this encounter through this door, and this is probably the first enemy that they’re going to fight, and there’s a turret over there, and they’ll probably go this path to the turret.” We threw that out the window — a grappling hook says, “I can come at that turret from the back or the other side completely, or maybe I just fly right past it.”
And your “Breath of the Wild” example, where people are Gravity Hammer-ing Warthogs and zipping across the map with them — that’s another example of what [Crocker] was talking about with the game saying “yes.” It was a process, but once we got everybody in the studio on board, it took the gloves off.
One of the things that we talked about was, “Is this thing too OP [overpowered]? Are people going to want to use other equipment?” And it’s like, “yeah, they probably will, especially on harder difficulties.” And the fact that it’s OP or not OP — I don’t think it is — but the fact that players want to use it so much that it’s this thing that that’s a natural extension of Master Chief, that’s great. That’s exactly what you want. That’s the whole goal. If it wasn’t that, then it’d be more of a question of “why are we putting this thing into the game?”
Crocker: And the equipment, as an example, really allowed you to just play the way you want to play. So if you need a barrier to protect you, you have the shield. If you want to move quickly, you have your Thrusters. The Threat Sensor does the same thing. And although not every single player wants to use all of the pieces of equipment, we keep finding opportunities to use them in different ways, and it just really adds to it.
There’s a great example where there’s an FOB [forward operating base] that I won’t spoil too much, but there just happens to be some elites around it that you’re not expecting. [laughs] And I take a Ghost and stick Threat Sensors on it and drive around so I can figure out where they are right. It’s just a strategy that you can adopt, but you can also just litter the area with [Sensors] or just wait until they de-cloak. You just have so many choices. That’s really how we approached every single problem — ‘how do we just let the player play it the way they want?’
Dyck: That’s one of the areas that absolutely benefited from the extra time. The boss fights were there foundationally, most of the mechanics were there, but in terms of giving them each their theme, like your point around the Jega one where he’s a little bit creepier, [and] the ability to introduce him more as a character throughout the game. Those are opportunities that we really dove into with the extra time.
And from a gameplay standpoint, with the bosses across the board, we certainly were conscious of the feedback and aware — we felt it, too — with the Warden from Halo 5. If we’re adding boss fights, we didn’t want to fall into the trap of “oh, this is just the guy that I fought before, except now he’s got a shield, and he’s a bullet sponge, so I’ll just sit here emptying round after round, clip after clip, into him until he eventually dies.”
We wanted them to have, the way I describe it, a “special sauce.” With Tremonious, it’s his jetpack, so he should have some sort of ground-pound attack. So even though it’s just like maybe one or two things that we added per boss, it helps give them that that separation from the other factional enemies that you fight that are similar. Like Jega, obviously, he’s cloaking. [Elite soldier] Chak’Lok’s got cloaking as well, but he’ll switch it up. Jega does the cloaking but then he’ll just come at you from somewhere else and he shank you. So we tried to mix in a variety of gameplay. There were no hard rules of “if you don’t use this, you can’t beat this boss.”
Q: What was the design philosophy of the side missions, while also accounting for the player, at any given time, maybe having different arsenals available to them? [Side content includes capturing FOBs, taking out High-Value Targets [HVTs] for gear and helping UNSC Marines — all of which reward you with ‘Valor’ to unlock new gear and vehicles.]
Dyck: The goal around the side content is that it’s always supposed to be additive. So if the player doesn’t want to engage at all, they don’t have to — they can just follow the story that’s going to pull them through, all the ‘Golden Path,’ critical beats. The goal with why we wanted players to feel that it was interesting and compelling to go and do those things — obviously, a big part of that is earning Valor points. But also, the notion of taking down the Banished — taking out some of the named characters in the HVTs, freeing Marines. Those are things that have stakes and also help build the world in terms of there being more going on outside of just the Golden Path.
They also give us an opportunity to tell more stories around what happened with the UNSC. Your first question was [about] visual storytelling and stuff in the world — doing those side quests, between the audio logs, saving Marines and all that stuff, starts rounding out the story for what the Banished is doing, what happened with the UNSC. It gives the player a sense of hope as they’re starting to free Marines and they start talking [about] “Yeah, Master Chief is back!” And you get to feel that “hero moment,” which is always been a part of Halo when it’s at its best. So it’s just an opportunity to bring all that stuff in and give the player more goodies while they’re out there exploring.
It also helps us embrace some of the mystery that’s always been in Halo, like right from Halo [CombatEvolved], where you’re dropped on a ring, and you’re like “where should I go? Should I go over there?” [Infinite] is the spiritual reboot of that. “Yeah, you can go over there — you can cruise over there and check it out. Maybe there’s something over there, maybe you’ll get an audio log, maybe you’ll get a weapon, maybe you’ll get a Spartan Core [to upgrade Chief’s equipment], or free some Marines.” It was never intended to be anything that was “fetch quest-y” or anything like that. It was quite intentional — there are meaningful things to do out there, but it’s based off player choice, if they want to go engage with them.
Crocker: To add to that, we didn’t want to make the biggest game we possibly could that just kept you on a kind of hamster wheel. We wanted to make the best Halo experience we could. So even the Valor addition is an additive choice on the player’s part. It’s fun to rescue Marines, and it’s fun to be in that minute-to-minute, second-to-second combat — it’s a little blip of fun in the landscape, and it has a reward. But if you don’t want to play with Marines, you don’t have to — if you just want to continue to shoot things, you can. But if you do want to get Marines, it’s just a way in which you can do it. And then that changes up how you can play the rest of the game. And then the Valor applies to the FOBs and allows you to choose your vehicles and bring more weapons in — again, it’s additive fun.
If you’re only a story player, [you can] go in a straight line — it always tells you where to go next. You have a choice in how you get to that point, but if just want to follow the path, there’s usually a path that will just take you straight to your next story objective. Ideally, it passes something that you want to do, and that will distract you and pull you off the path unless you’re going to some other stuff. Or maybe you’re going to have a challenge — the game probably does ratchet up a bit by the time you get the excavation site. You’re outside, so can go and get some more equipment, or go and get some Marines to come and help. The things you need are around you if you want that kind of help or if you just want to see what else is out there. It’s just about us respecting the player’s time and just trying to give them this freedom to play the game the way they want to and just have fun — [that’s] the way Halo is always supposed to be.
This interview has been edited for style and clarity.
Halo Infinite will release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 8th. The game is also a part of Xbox Game Pass, which is available on all of those platforms as well as mobile via streaming.
Halo Infinite’s multiplayer has been an absolute blast, despite several legitimate criticisms from players. (Master) Chief among them is the inability to select specific game modes — thankfully, that should change soon.
Currently, Infinite runs on a ‘playlist’ composed of various game modes, like Capture The Flag, Slayer (the games deathmatch mode), Oddball and others. While having a random playlist isn’t an issue, the lack of dedicated playlists for specific modes has been a point of frustration for Infinite players.
Let's talk about Halo Infinite playlists! We've been reading your feedback, and we're working on plans to add Fiesta, Tactical Slayer (SWAT), and Free-For-All playlists as we speak. They won't land by Dec 8, but the team is pushing to get them in before the end of year 👊
It’s made worse by the game’s contentious battle pass system, which requires players to complete specific challenges to make progress. Some challenges require people to play specific game modes — with a randomized playlist, those can be frustrating to complete.
343 Industries’ community manager, John Junyszek, tweeted on Friday that the team was working on a Social Slayer playlist, along with adding other popular game modes and playlists from past Halo titles, such as ‘Fiesta,’ ‘Tactical Slayer (SWAT),’ and ‘Free-For-All.’
A Social Slayer playlist (with multiple variations) is also in the works (we see this request the most), but we won't be able to get that one ready until after the holidays. We hope you can understand and enjoy the ones that make it in before the team takes a well-deserved break!
Junyszek notes that the changes won’t go live by December 8th — when Infinite’s campaign goes live — but the team is working to get the changes out before the holidays. However, the Social Slayer playlist won’t be ready until next year.
So far, 343 has generally done a great job listening to players, communicating plans and implementing changes to address criticisms. For example, 343 added a new, always-available ‘Play 1 Game‘ challenge and later increased the amount of XP given for the first six matches played in a day. Both changes were implemented to address concerns with the battle pass, which players felt took too long to progress due to restrictive challenges and low XP rewards.
Every month, Xbox adds new games to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
Typically, new titles are rolled out in two waves and now, Xbox has unveiled November’s second batch of new Game Pass games:
ANVIL (Console and PC) — December 2nd
Archvale (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Console and PC) — December 2nd
Lawn Mowing Simulator (Cloud, Console and PC) –December 2nd
Rubber Bandits (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Stardew Valley (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 7th
Halo Infinite (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 8th
One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 (Cloud, Console and PC) – December 9th
Aliens: Fireteam Elite (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 14th
Among Us (Console) — December 14th
If you’ve been playing Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer since it launched on November 15th, it’s also worth keeping in mind that you can claim a ‘Pass Tense’ MA40 AR Bundle as a Game Pass Ultimate Perk. It includes the exclusive ‘Pass Tense’ MA40 Assault Rifle coating, as well as four 2XP Boosts and four Challenge Swaps.
Finally, here’s what’s leaving Game Pass on December 15th:
Beholder (Cloud and Console)
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (Console and PC)
Guacamelee! 2 (Cloud, Console and PC)
Wilmot’s Warehouse (Cloud, Console and PC)
Unto The End (Cloud, Console and PC)
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (Cloud, Console and PC)
As always, members can purchase these or any other Game Pass titles with an exclusive 20 percent discount to keep playing them even after they exit the catalogue.
Meanwhile, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $16.99/month and is required for streaming (which Xbox refers to as ‘Cloud’). On top of that, this tier includes Game Pass for both Console and PC, as well as an Xbox Live Gold subscription and access to EA Play.
Find out what came to Xbox Game Pass in November here.
Microsoft showed off a very brief trailer for its long-in-development Halo TV series during its 20th anniversary Xbox event, offering a quick look at the Master Chief.
Beyond a glimpse of the green space hero’s Mjolnir armour and Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana, saying, “Hello Master Chief,” nothing else was revealed about the upcoming series. Master Chief will be played by American Gods’ Pablo Schreiber, who was born in Ymir, B.C.
While Paramount+ is where the Halo TV series will stream in the U.S., it’s unclear if this will also be the case in Canada, given that the streaming platform is very different here.
Though Survivor, NCIS: Los Angeles, Console Wars and more are available in Canada on the streaming service formerly called CBS All Access, several original TV shows, Survivor, Happy Days and more are missing because their Canadian licencing rights are tied to other services. With this in mind, there’s a possibility we could see the Halo TV series stream on a service like Bell-owned Crave, though keeping a notable property like this exclusive to Paramount+ could help drive subscriptions.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first attempt to create a live-action Halo series. For example, Halo 4 released alongside the Forward Unto Dawn web series and Halo: Nightfall streamed as a prequel to Halo 5. While neither series was likely as popular or as well-received as Microsoft hoped, this latest Halo TV show effort seems to be the highest-profile yet.
The Halo TV series is set to release at some point in 2022.
The console arms race only heightens by the day. Over the past couple of years, Xbox and PlayStation have done everything to gobble up as many first-party studios in an effort to outdo the other.
While in generations past it may have seemed like Sony and company had been winning the exclusive game; however, the team at Microsoft has assembled quite the stable of in-house studios themselves. Acquisitions like Double Fine, Obsidian, and of course all of Bethesda’s amalgam of development teams have headlined an age of big spending from the Washington-based console giant.
Sure, the fruits of Xbox Game Studios’ recent efforts are only just starting to show, but the future is bright for games rocking a Series X/S in their entertainment centre. So without further ado, here is everything we know about what each first-party Xbox team is currently working on:
343 Industries
Location: Redmond, Washington Last game: Halo Wars 2
One of Microsoft’s crown jewels, 343 Industries is a pretty easy studio to guess when it comes to the type of projects it is currently working on. The Redmond-based team was initially assembled to take the torch on the Halo franchise from Bungie after it broke away from Xbox, and it’s followed Master Cheif and co. ever since.
As for what the team is currently working on, it’s Halo Infinite, of course! Infinite is set to launch on December 8th and will mark just the beginning of this title. 343 has made it known that Halo Infinite is going to be a living organism of a game, with series staples like co-op campaign and forge mode coming sometime in the new year.
Master Chief’s latest adventure is sure to keep 343 Industries busy for a long time with the potential for expansions and new modes (like a battle royale, perhaps?), so predicting what comes after is a moot point. Yes, it would be nice to nice to see the team venture away from the world of Spartans and Elites, but at this point, that seems highly unlikely.
Alpha Dog Games
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia Last Game: Mighty Doom (mobile)
Alpha Dog Games is one of the lesser-known studios at Xbox. The team was a part of the Bethesda/Microsoft deal and focuses entirely on mobile experiences. The studio’s last project, Mighty DOOM, launched earlier this year on iOS and Android, offering a top-down touch screen take on the iconic id Software shooter.
Being such a small studio, nothing has leaked from or been said about Alpha Dog’s next game. However, having been brought into the ZeniMax family in 2019 to bring Bethesda IP to smartphones, the team’s next project will likely be related to a name we already know.
Arkane
Location: Lyon, France Last game: Deathloop
Arkane is currently coming off the high of putting out one of the best games of the year in Deathloop. However, with its most recent outing being a timed PS5 exclusive, Microsoft is sure to make sure the French team puts it in the rearview as fast as they can.
Arkane’s stock is on the rise. Over the past decade and change, the studio has put out hit after hit, perfecting a style of gameplay known as the “immersive-sim.” And earlier this year, we got a tease of what the Dishonored studio has coming down the pipeline.
Announced as a part of the Xbox/Bethesda E3 showcase this past June, Redfall is next in Arkane’s sights. Not much has been said about the urban vampire action game other than to expect it next summer, but judging from its brief reveal trailer, it has Arkane’s signature blend of stealth, combat, and player agency written all over it.
Bethesda Game Studios
Location: Rockville, Maryland (main location, also has three other wings, including one in Montreal) Last game: The Elder Scrolls: Blades (mobile)
While there are plenty of prize pumpkins among the Bethesda/Zenimax group of studios that Xbox purchased back in fall 2020, Bethesda Game Studios (BGS) would be considered by many to be the cream of the crop. BGS is the team that the majority of people think of when they hear Bethesda. These are the folks behind mega-hits like Skyrim and Fallout 3. To put it bluntly: when Bethesda Game Studios puts out a new game, heads turn.
And 2022 will be one of those head-turning years, as the team steps away from familiar names like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout and puts out something completely new. Interplanetary RPG Starfield is set to launch on November 11th, 2022 and will usher in a new era for BGS, running on a new engine, and being the first from the studio to come out exclusively on Xbox.
It doesn’t stop there. After the luster of Starfield has worn off and gamers move on to play whatever comes next, Bethesda has another card up their sleeve in The Elder Scrolls VI. However, according to Todd Howard, the game’s director Todd Howard, it’s still “a very long way off” and is “something that’s going to take a lot of time.”
The Coalition
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Last game: Gears 5
While The Coalition has been mostly known for recent entries in the Gears of War series, something new could be on the horizon for the Canadian studio. The Vancouver-based development house most recently put out the stellar Gears 5 back in 2019, but in the time since has been very quiet about what’s up next.
Other than helping support 343 on Halo Infinite, The Coalition’s two other teams are apparently hard at work on something Gears-related, as well as something brand new. If this new Gears of War title is in fact in development, fans could expect to see it as soon as next year. A three-year development pattern has emerged since The Coalition took over the Gears franchise, so it would only make sense that a sixth game in the mainline series launch in 2022.
Taking a look at the potential brand-new project being worked on by the studio’s third team, it really could be anything. Back in May, known gaming insider Jeff Grubb revealed the team could be tackling a galaxy far, far away, saying “it could be a Star Wars thing.. but [he hasn’t] been able to confirm that.” However, mere days later when chatting about the studio’s move to Unreal Engine 5, Coalition senior community manager TC Shauny took to Reddit, clarifying the team is “not working on any such title” and that it has “nothing else to announce at this time.”
Yes, the above remark is coming right from the mouth of the developer, saying it has nothing to do with a digital dive into the Lucasian lore; but if a Coalition Star Wars project were to be announced, it would not be the first time a studio has lied about what it’s working on. It’s also worth noting that EA is losing its exclusive hold on the Star Wars gaming license in 2023, which would open it up to studios like The Coalition.
Compulsion Games
Location: Montreal, Quebec Last game: We Happy Few
Compulsion Games is one of the lesser-known studios in the fold at Xbox, but there is no reason to think that it couldn’t achieve great things in the near future. The French-Canadian team was acquired by Microsoft back in 2018 and has been pretty much radio silent since. Other than a few remarks praising Xbox Game Pass, the We Happy Few developer has kept things pretty quiet.
Earlier this year, rumours were swirling that a new Compulsion game announcement was imminent; however, nothing has happened yet. The team has been seen hiring for a Brand Manager responsible for “all… marketing initiatives in the studio and liaise with [the] Microsoft marketing team.” Could that mean a marketing plan is coming together for as a We Happy Few follow-up? It’s entirely possible.
In a September 2021 interview with French site XboxSquad, it was mentioned that the studio’s next title would be third-person, utilize Unreal Engine, and is about halfway done. So, a first tease and reveal is likely just around the corner.
Double Fine Productions
Location: San Francisco, California Last game: Psychonauts 2
Of course Double Fine is going to be difficult to dissect in an article such as this simply because it just released a long-awaited title in Psychonauts 2. Founder Tim Schafer’s development house has become one of the most beloved in gaming. Double Fine has honed this out-there, yet very emotionally real brand of storytelling, all wrapped in some incredibly colourful and bombastic packages.
Though it has barely been two months since their last game shipped, the team is already looking on the horizon at what is next. When speaking to GamesIndustry while promoting the Psychonauts sequel, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer let slip that their next endeavour would be “something new and original and surprising.”
In most cases, it’s hard to glean anything from nebulous adjectives like “new,” “original,” and “surprising.” That effort becomes herculean when dealing with the enigma that is Tim Schafer. With a studio that has tackled everything from platforming through people’s psyches to Jack Black-led adventures into the world of heavy metal, this next Double Fine game could be anything.
id Software
Location: Richardson, Texas Last game: Doom Eternal
Another of the megatons that came in the Bethesda/Xbox deal was id Software. The studio that practically invented the first-person shooter has not stopped churning out pulse-pounding action games for more than twenty years. id has recently been on a roll, reviving the Doom franchise with Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal.
As for where the team goes next, it might not be where you expect. According to rumours, the team is currently hard at work on a revival of another groundbreaking FPS, Quake. The Quake reboot supposedly will feature a new female protagonist and will offer both multiplayer and single-player modes.
Nothing of this potential Quake title has been confirmed; however, Xbox’s Phil Spencer has mentioned that he has seen id’s three-year road map and it looks “fun.” Does this mean the Quake revival — if real — could be seen in the next 36 months? That looks to be the case. For now, though, all fans can do is wait with bated breath for another white-knuckled adventure from the id Software team.
The Initiative
Location: Santa Monica, California Last game: N/A
The Initiative has been one of the biggest news stories in the gaming world for quite some time. Announced as the first-ever “AAAA” studio, the Santa Monica team was assembled by Microsoft with the sole purpose of taking on the likes of Naughty Dog and Guerilla at Sony. This studio has been the beacon of hope for Xbox gamers, as it will potentially offer the big-budget, prestige exclusives that Microsoft’s console competition has seemingly had on lock in recent years.
Back in December 2020, nearly three years after its inception, it was announced that the team would be reviving the Perfect Dark franchise. Now, not too much is known about the upcoming return of Joanna Dark, but it has been described as a “reinvention of the series” with an “eco sci-fi” backdrop.
Perfect Dark has been fairly quiet since its unveiling back at last year’s Game Awards. The Initiative team has let out a tidbit here and a nugget there about the project. Most recently, it was announced that Crystal Dynamics (known for its work on the Tomb Raider reboot and Marvel’s Avengers) would be brought on to help with the project, but other than that, news on The Initiative has been lacking as of late.
inXiles Entertainment
Location: Tustin, California Last game: Wasteland 3
inXile joins the likes of Obsidian and Bethesda Game Studios as the RPG music makers of the Xbox first-party. For some reason in Microsoft’s acquisition spree, the tech giant has leaned into picking up some of the best role-playing-based studios out there, and inXile is no exception.
Taking a peek at what the team is working on, inXile is coming hot off the heels of launching the classic Fallout spiritual sequel Wasteland 3 in the latter half of 2020. Just because the studio has only recently put something out, though, does not mean that it’s not working hard on its next title for Microsoft.
Speaking on a podcast in August 2021, Windows Central’s Jez Corden said the Wasteland studio is currently plunking away on a “steampunk RPG” known as “Project Cobalt.” The game is rumoured to be coming out sometime in 2023 and if a pair of recent job listings are to be believed, it could be first-person instead of the classic isometric view the studio’s titles are known for.
Machine Games
Location: Uppsala, Sweden Last game: Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot
Another of the development houses acquired in the blockbuster Zenimax/Xbox deal, MachineGames has garnered quite the reputation for its FPS titles. Similar to sister studio id Software, MachineGames has spent recent years breathing life into a classic shooter franchise. Where it was Doom with id, here it is Wolfenstein. Both of the mainline games in the MachineGames Wolfenstein reboot have received mostly positive reviews. Though some of the subsequent spin-offs have not fared as well, the Swedish studio does not look like it’s going to slow down.
The next announced project for MachineGames is Indiana Jones, though not much has come out on Indy’s next adventure. Fans have seen a brief teaser trailer and heard confirmation from Zenimax that it will be an “original, standalone tale set at the height of the career of the famed adventurer.” As for when gamers can expect to see Indiana Jones, Bethesda’s Pete Hines said at E3 2021 that the title is still in the “very, very, very early stages of development,” so it will likely be years before it sees the light of day.
And a look at Harrison Ford’s famed adventurer is not the only thing MachineGames has cooking up. It has been more than four years since the conclusion of the team’s Wolfenstein trilogy was teased by the studio. Though no concrete details are known and no trailer has been released, Bethesda’s Pete Hines has mentioned that Wolfenstein 3 is “absolutely” something they would want to release. Hines also commented that “You can put [him] at the head of the list of people who want to see another Wolfenstein game.” So a Wolfenstein 3 is bound to happen, it’s just a matter of when.
Mojang Studios
Location: Stockholm, Sweden Last game: Minecraft Dungeons
Monetarily speaking, Mojang may be the biggest studio at Xbox Game Studios. Minecraft continues to be a monster hit for the developer, transcending video games and becoming one of the biggest brands in pop culture. Since Minecraft launched in 2011, the team has released plenty of updates to the title, a couple of standalone digital card/strategy games, and last year debuted the Diablo-esque Minecraft Dungeons.
Now, “Minecraft 2” is probably not coming for a while longer, but that doesn’t mean the Stolkholm-based team is not working on something new and exciting. According to Windows Central, “two all-new projects that aren’t Minecraft or Minecraft Dungeons” are on the way from Mojang.
As of late, teases of a 2D Terraria-looking project have surfaced on the official Minecraft Instagram. This could simply be the studio’s social team showcasing art inspired by its digital block-building empire, or it could be hinting that an announcement may be imminent.
Ninja Theory
Location: Cambridge, England Last game: Bleeding Edge
Ninja Theory is primed and ready to break through into the mainstream with its next project. The team released Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice in 2017 to rave reviews, with many critics praising the game’s harrowing first-hand account of someone dealing with severe mental illness. Since then, the studio stumbled a bit with multiplayer brawler Bleeding Edge. The team’s first Xbox-exclusive title failed to capture the audience needed to sustain an online game like that and was shut down less than a year after release.
But Bleeding Edge is in the rearview and the future looks bright for Ninja Theory.Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is the most imminent project for the English developer. Though no release date has been announced for the title, it is rumoured to be coming sometime in 2022.
Aside from the Hellblade sequel, Ninja Theory is also working away at two more things. The first, Project: Mara, has received a brief proof-of-concept video and looks to be some sort of modern sci-fi horror game. The second, known as The Insight Project, doesn’t look to be a game at all and has been described by the studio as ‘an ambitious combination of technology, game design, and clinical neuroscience brought together with the aim of treating mental suffering.” It’s unclear when either might release.
Obsidian Entertainment
Location: Irvine, California Last game: Grounded
Acquired back in 2018 and kicking off this era of acquisitions for Xbox, Obsidian Entertainment has specialized in the western RPG for decades. The team behind hits such as Pillars of Eternity, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Fallout: New Vegas has already put out a couple of games since being purchased by the ‘Big M.’
The studio’s first Xbox exclusive, Grounded, has been in early access on console and PC for over a year with constant updates to keep players enticed. The team has said that an official 1.0 release of the game is coming in 2021, but sitting here in mid-October with no news of a full Grounded release, that 2021 window seems more and more unlikely.
Other than Obsidian’s shrunken survival early access adventure, the Irvine, California-based team has already unveiled its next two projects. Revealed back at the Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020, Avowed looks to be a classic Obsidian RPG set in a fantastical fantasy world. Also, the studio is also hard at work on the follow-up to 2019’s The Outer Worlds. Other than brief teasers for both games not much is known about either project. However, according to a recent tweet from Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer both are currently in some sort of playable state. A recent report from Windows Central offered some more details while noting that the game is still in the “early” phases of development.
It has been made known that that studio is not stopping with its two currently announced projects and that it’s working on some sort of third unannounced secret game. For years, fans have been clamoring for a new Fallout from Obsidian, and this very well could be that. One of the people working on said “secret” project is the previously mentioned Josh Sawyer, who directed Fallout: New Vegas. Now, Sawyer has worked his way up the ladder since New Vegas launched in 2010, but if the studio were to be taking on Fallout again, his expertise would be helpful.
Playground Games
Location: Leamington Spa, England Last game: Forza Horizon 4
Playground Games is about to make a statement here in 2021. In a matter of weeks, the studio will launch the fifth entry in the Forza Horizon series, offering players the opportunity to take in another massive open world full of racing, stunts, and fun to be had. The UK team has become known for their more arcadey take on the Forza name, having done it to critical acclaim. And judging from everything we have seen thus far of Horizon 5, it’s going to be another hit for Playground.
Now what’s next for Playground will be an opportunity to leave the engine blocks and asphalt in the rearview for a bit, and flex their muscles. Fable was announced at the 2020 Xbox Games Showcase, serving as a soft reboot for the famed Xbox RPG franchise. Other than that initial CG trailer, nothing has been shown off from the Playground Fable project, but judging from that debut tease, it will blend the series’ signature humour with an expansive fairy tale world.
As for when gamers can expect Fable to release is anyone’s guess. However, on a recent IGN podcast, Phil Spencer did drop that fans can expect it sooner rather than later, saying it would see the light of day before Elder Scrolls VI, and VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb has mentioned that the goal is to have Fable launch in 2023.
Rare
Location: Twycross, England Last game: Sea of Thieves
Rare is one of the most beloved names in gaming. While it hasn’t captured gamers quite the same way it did before being purchased by Microsoft in 2002, the studio’s legacy is one that cannot be taken lightly. Despite a string of lackluster titles within the Microsoft stable, Rare has found its footing a bit as of late with projects like Rare Replay and Sea of Thieves. The latter title has garnered quite the fanbase and has seen various updates and big-name crossovers since its 2018 debut.
Next on the docket for the English studio is Everwild. Dubbed by many as one of the biggest question marks on the Xbox slate of upcoming titles, details on this game are sparse. The project was first announced back in 2019, having been in development for nearly three years at the time. Since then, though, sailing has been less than smooth for Everwild. The title has supposedly been rebooted completely within the studio and now is targeting a 2024 release date.
Roundhouse Studios
Location: Madison, Wisconsin Last game: Rune 2 (PC)
While Roundhouse is a relatively new studio, the team is anything but. Formerly known as Human Head Studios, this development team has been working as a unit since the turn of the millennium. The studio most known for 2006’s Prey had to shut its doors in 2019 but was almost immediately purchased by Bethesda and reopened under the name Roundhouse.
Nothing is currently known about the team’s current project, but it’s working on something. As a part of the acquisition announcement in 2019, Bethesda stated that the studio would “immediately begin work on unannounced projects at Bethesda.” So they rather than working as a support studio they are currently fiddling around with something. Games will just have to wait to see what it possibly could be.
Tango Gameworks
Location: Tokyo, Japan Last game: The Evil Within 2
The funny thing about this next member of the Xbox family is that its most imminent project is a PS5 timed console exclusive. Having been a part of the Bethesda/Microsoft deal, Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire: Tokyois one of the remnants of a time before ZeniMax’s teams were a part of Xbox. The team has said it will honour the deal it had in place with Sony and will launch the game on PlayStation 5, but after that, it will likely only be Xbox and PC for the Japanese development house.
After initially being given a 2021 release date, Ghostwire is now set to debut sometime in 2022. This delay was likely due to the departure of the project’s creative director in March of this year, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has surely not made development run as smoothly as the team had thought when initially pitching this super-powered horror title.
Aside from Ghostwire: Tokyo, though, Tango has made it clear that they are already working away on what will be their first Xbox exclusive. At Tokyo Game Show 2021, studio head Shinji Mikami revealed that another new game is happening and is being worked on by The Evil Within 2 director John Johanas. When probed on the project, he said that “right now John is in the middle of working energetically on a new game,” but did not make mention as to whether it will be The Evil Within 3.
Turn 10 Studios
Location: Redmond, Washington Last game: Forza Motorsport 7
Similar to Gran Turismo developer Polyphony on the Sony side, Turn 10 is the racing sim specialist over at Microsoft. The team prides itself on pushing Xbox hardware to the brink, creating a stellar simulation driving experience with photorealistic graphics. The Redmond-based studio has only ever worked on the Forza Motorsport series, so it is easy to predict where they will go next.
Forza Motorsport 8 has been the worst kept secret for a number of years. Turn 10 has made it very clear that the next Forza game is well on its way. And gamers may not have to wait long to get their hands on Forza 8.
Earlier this year, Turn 10 started playtesting for its next project so that could mean that the game is coming sooner than later. If anything is to be gleaned from the last couple releases of Forza Motorsport, they come either a year after or before a new Forza Horizon. With Forza Horizon 5 coming out this Fall, a 2022 release for Forza Motorsport 8 would not be all that surprising.
Undead Labs
Location: Seattle, Washington Last game: State of Decay 2
Undead Labs was founded back in 2009 with the sole purpose of tackling digital dives into the world of the undead. The studio’s State of Decay series, while never blowing critics away, has cultivated quite the cult following. Though the team has only released two games up to this point, the jump from State of Decay 1 to 2 was a welcome one. Undead Labs has continued to innovate on its projects and that trend is showing no signs of slowing.
After allegedly canceling an MMO based in the State of Decay world, Undead Labs has announced its next game will be State of Decay 3. The game has been shown off a couple of times since its debut, yet no release date has been given. If a recent job listing is to be believed, it could still be a while until Undead’s next title hits store shelves. The listing is for a sound designer specializing in work in Unreal Engine 5, meaning the title is still in active development with release still a number of steps down the pipeline.
ZeniMax Online Studios
Location: Hunt Valley, Maryland Last game: The Elder Scrolls Online
For the better part of a decade, ZeniMax Online Studios has been solely focused on The Elder Scrolls Online. The Elder Scrolls MMO has received a number of expansions and updates since its initial 2014 release and still has an active player population filling its servers.
For a long time, it’s felt like ZeniMax Online wasn’t even thinking about what is coming next. They had helped with games like Fallout 76 and Doom (2016), but spoken very little when it came to a new game from the studio itself. Well, turns out that while catering to the ESO audience and aiding on other Bethesda projects the team has been working on something after all.
It’s been out there for quite a while that ZeniMax Online is working on another MMO based on a new IP. Late last year, the studio was seen going on quite the hiring spree and is growing in numbers again as we speak. Now, nothing has been spoken of regarding this brand new IP, but it’s seemingly running on Unreal Engine. It’s exciting to know another game is coming from the Maryland studio; however, do not expect to be playing it any time in the near future.
Fan Expo Canada has announced three video game-related guests, and they’re rather big ones.
The voices of Super Mario‘s Mario (Charles Martinet), Halo‘s Master Chief (Steve Downes) and Uncharted‘s Nathan Drake (Nolan North) will all make an appearance at the Toronto-based convention in October.
It’s a pretty notable get for the show, as the actors each play the characters representing the “Big Three” in gaming — Nintendo (Mario), Xbox (Halo) and PlayStation (Uncharted).
Fan Expo Canada is operating under a ‘Limited Edition’ format this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that total attendance will be capped 25,000 people and the show is running for three days (October 22-24) instead of the usual four. With that in mind, Martinet is set to appear all three days (the website incorrectly lists him for “Thursday” as well, despite the show not taking part on that day), as is North. Downes, meanwhile, is set to appear on Friday only.
The actors will offer autographs and photo ops at their tables. It seems like some sort of joint panel to share their respective experiences in gaming would also make a lot of sense, but one hasn’t been confirmed as of yet. We’ve reached out to Fan Expo and will update this story once a response has been received or an official schedule has been revealed.
Other guests at this year’s Fan Expo include Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian and the upcoming Canadian-made Far Cry 6), Toronto’s own Stephen Amell (Arrow, Heels) and Robbie Amell (The Flash, Upload), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead), Montreal’s own William Shatner (Star Trek) and Ray Fisher (Zack Snyder’s Justice League).
Tickets start at $35 CAD — you can learn more here.
Rockstar Energy Drink has released a teaser for an upcoming partnership with Xbox on Halo Infinite.
The PepsiCo product will launch on October 1st and feature a tie-in with the upcoming Halo series game. It’s unclear what the partnership will specifically entail, but I’m hoping to see a Rockstar Energy Drink logo on the Master Chief’s helmet or a Grunt aggressively running in circles after drinking a large can of Rockstar (I really hope this isn’t what the partnership is).
Beyonce paid tribute to one of her biggest fans after the young girl lost her battle to cancer.
The ‘Drunk in Love’ hitmaker sent a bouquet of 90 white roses and a handwritten note to Chelsea Lee James’ family, who are mourning the loss of the beloved teenager after she passed away at the age of 15 on April 21.
The family posted a picture on Facebook, which showed the flowers and the message attached.
The note read: ”Donna, love and prayers to you and your family. Chelsea was a beautiful girl and I am so happy I was able to meet her. She touched my heart and I will never forget her.”
Chelsea – who had been battling the illness for the past decade – was brought on stage during Beyonce’s 2009 concert in Sydney, Australia, when she dedicated ‘Halo’ to her.
She sang: ”Chelsea I can see your halo, I pray it won’t fade away.”
The pair were reunited backstage at the ‘Mrs. Carter Show’ in November after the children’s cancer charity Camp Quality organised a meeting.
It seems that Spielberg is currently in talks to produce the project.
The film came to a halt when Universal and Fox disagreed on the project. A few years ago, Peter Jackson showed interest in doing the film.
Now, Spielberg hopes to bring the project to life, after being completely impressed with Stuart Beattie’s script. Beattie also wrote the screenplay for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Although Spielberg wants to add Halo to his impressive filmography, he would only act as a producer for the movie. His next film, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, opens in theatres on December 23, 2011.
