Activision is said to have made a prototype for a Halo game and though it was quickly abandoned, Microsoft is still considering having the Call Of Duty company work on a new multiplayer entry.
In the wake of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the Call Of Duty company has kept to its wheelhouse and only continued to work on its own franchises rather than become involved with any other Xbox properties.
Apparently, that could change as there are rumours circulating that Activision may contribute to the Halo series following the launch of Halo: Campaign Evolved, the multiplatform remake of the very first Halo game.
In fact, it’s claimed that Activision even made a prototype for a new multiplayer Halo game, albeit one that Microsoft decided to pass on.
The rumours began last month when Windows Central’s Jez Corden claimed to have heard that Microsoft was considering putting Halo ‘under Activision’ though Corden admitted he thought this rumour was ‘crazy’ and ‘didn’t believe it was true.’
More recently, Halo insider Rebs Gaming shared a video about how he believes future Halo game development will be more reliant on outsourcing, citing how Halo: Campaign Evolved’s credits list off plenty of outside studios who worked on the game besides lead developer Halo Studios.
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He goes on to say he’s heard from a reliable source – one who shared accurate info on Campaign Evolved ahead of its launch – that Microsoft is indeed exploring the possibility of having Activision at least assist Halo Studios on future games.
Call Of Duty: Vanguard developer Sledgehammer Games is also namedropped as a choice for developing a new multiplayer game. For what it’s worth, there was fan speculation of Sledgehammer working on something Halo related in 2024 though whether that’s accurate or not, whatever this secret project is has yet to materialise.
Rebs Gaming adds that Activision put together a prototype pitch for a Halo game just a couple of months ago in June but it was abandoned in early July. Despite this, Rebs Gaming is insistent that Microsoft is still thinking about having Activision work on Halo; it just hasn’t committed to the idea yet.
The idea may be hard to fathom for some since the Halo series has primarily been handled by either Bungie or 343 Industries (which was rebranded to Halo Studios in 2024), but other studios have taken the lead on Halo projects before.
For example, the original Halo: Combat Evolved’s PC version was handled by Borderlands studio Gearbox Software while Sega subsidiary Creative Assembly was enlisted for Halo Wars 2 because of its experience making real time strategy games.
Whatever the case, the future of Halo is very unclear at the moment. Rebs Gaming previously claimed that no new Halo games are currently in development and if estimated sales figures for Campaign Evolved are anything to go by, Microsoft’s goal of expanding Halo’s audience to PlayStation hasn’t been particularly successful.
The underwhelming PlayStation 5 performance could incentivise Microsoft to keep future Halo games locked to Xbox, which would be in line with its return to releasing console exclusives. However, sales of the Xbox Series X remain terrible and there’s little excitement for the next console, Project Helix.
Aside from the fact that Project Helix is expected to be woefully expensive, Xbox’s reputation has never been worse after another round of disastrous layoffs in June, with even more employees still set to lose their jobs before next July.
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