Halo: Infinite is the last Halo game, 343i confirms no more sequels

Halo: Infinite isn't just a game. It's a platform that will host the next 10 years of the Halo franchise.

Today 343 Industries confirmed Halo sequels are over. The developer will no longer release numbered Halo games. Instead, 343i will use Halo: Infinite as the new basis for the franchise's future. "Halo Infinite is the start of our platform for the future," 343i's studio boss Chris Lee told IGN.

"We want Infinite to grow over time, versus going to those numbered titles and having all that segmentation that we had before. It's really about creating Halo Infinite as the start of the next ten years for Halo and then building that as we go with our fans and community."

This reveal matches up with predictions I made back in 2019:

"That's what I think Halo: Infinite really is: a platform. The Slipspace engine is already a launch pad for future Halo projects, and Infinite could be designed in such a way where it's a gateway to Halo's evolution rather than just another sequel. It could be the Halo Waypoint of Halo games."

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Interestingly enough, 343i says Infinite isn't a live game. Perhaps that's just a semantics-layered bit of PR speak and Halo: Infinite is indeed an engagement-driven live game. Even if it doesn't have a live campaign with drop-in drop-out co-op, it's certainly been re-designed to completely tap engagement. That's why Halo is now a FPS-RPG hybrid, after all.

I'm curious how they'll create this kind of foundation without live service updates and content roll-outs similar to something like Destiny, which receives regular patches and new seasonal updates over time.

This new focus perfectly meshes with Microsoft's emphasis and focus on services, subscriptions, and digital monetization. Microsoft cares most about services--it's billion-dollar empire is built from online cloud services and enterprise subscriptions--and the Xbox division is merely a small extension of its overall business.

Even if Halo: Infinite isn't a live game (which I think it is, it should just let you play offline too) it's been specifically designed to fall into the Xbox Game Pass model.

Halo: Infinite will release in November as an Xbox Series X launch game, and will also be available on PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store. It'll also be available for free for all Game Pass subscribers.