Halo 5 In 2013: Is It Too Much Too Soon?

Though the plastic wrapping has just come off of Halo 4 and many other enthusiastic gamers won’t see it until Christmas, there is already talk and excitement for Halo 5 as work is underway for the next installment in the popular long-running, first-person shooter series. But this won’t be just any release. Not only will Halo 5 be available for the Xbox 360, it is being reported that the game is scheduled to come out in time for the release of the next generation console currently referred to as the Xbox 720.

There is no set release date for either as of yet, but there’s talk that both could be out by next fall–just in time for the 2013 Christmas season. Even rumors about a release date announcement coming as early as March 2013 are being tossed around. With so little information on both right now, gamers may have to wait until E3 2013 to get a more detailed look at Halo 5 and possibly the Xbox 720. The Seattle Times has reported that 343 Industries is working on Halo 5 and Halo Franchise Development Director, Frank O’Connor said the team has begun work on the next installment. ”We’ve done as much prototyping and storytelling and the future arc of the universe as we have on technology,” said O’Connor. “We definitely have a lot of smart people inside the studio and outside the studio thinking about future technology and future development for sure.”

Releasing another Halo game just one year after the last one is a little odd. And when a release date is announced for the Xbox 720 and Halo 5, can we expect an update for Halo 4? Or will it fade in favor of the newer version that will no doubt be the game of the season for the new Microsoft console? Halo 5 may be able to do what Halo 4 hasn’t and that’s to have a month or two to itself to sell more copies with no new Call of Duty game on the horizon.  But with rumors abound for a 2013 Modern Warfare 4 release, 343 Industries will have to schedule accordingly.

Additionally, could it be with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 just two weeks after Halo 4′s launch that publisher Microsoft Studios is showing the red flag and will concentrate most of their efforts on Halo 5 as the flagship game for the Xbox 720? After all, Black Ops 2 did sell over $613 million in its first 24 hours after being released on Nov. 30. Halo 4 on the other hand, sold a paltry $220 million when it was released in the same time period when it was released on Nov. 5. Those aren’t bad sales numbers for the single platform game mind you, and it has received some very good to great reviews. But it’s safe to say that Black Ops 2 is running circles around Halo 4 and will continue to do so throughout the 2012 holiday season with more than one billion dollars in sales before the end of the calendar year.  With Halo 5 still in the development stages, Microsoft needs to be mindful of how and when the game will reach players’ hands.