343 Industries suggests Halo 6 is not coming in 2018

One of the biggest franchises in video game history is Microsoft’s iconic sci-fi FPS, Halo. Over the course of nearly two decades, the franchise has seen several developers such as Bungie and 343 Industries who have helped develop seven mainline entries in the series.

Bungie handed the keys to 343 after Halo: Reach where the studio announced an all-new trilogy centered around the mysterious alien race known as the Forerunners. Since 2012, 343 has delivered two titles in this trilogy and we all eagerly await its conclusion. Fans have been very critical of 343’s two Halo games, most notably Halo 5 which was slammed for its very short campaign that felt like it was holding back and stalling while the studio prepared the sixth game.

It seems 343 has taken all this criticism pretty seriously as they’ve seemingly opted to shy away from the traditional two – three year Halo release cycle for Halo 6 in favor of taking their time. In a new blog post, 343 Industries suggests that they’re not ready to pull the curtain back on the Chief’s next adventure.

“Welcome back! To be frank (or Grim, really), I’m not sure if that’s a welcome back to us, or you guys, but let’s go with it either way. 2018 has arrived and with it, the promise of new fun times to be had and adventures to be embarked upon. No, not those adventures, but plenty of exciting ones regardless – some which might surprise you more than others.”

Perhaps we’re reading into it too much but it isn’t the first time in recent memory they’ve suggested that Halo 6 is still pretty far off.

“No ETA at the moment. My guess is it’s going to still be a good while before you hear anything of any significance.” said community manager Brian Jarrard on Reddit.

“We want to give the team and the studio time to build the right, next FPS big experience so you’re not going to hear much from us for a while.” said the company in a blog post in October.

Perhaps we’ll see a reveal at E3 this summer with a release in fall 2019 but it’s too soon to tell. Looks like we’ll be waiting to hear more as with Steven Spielberg’s Halo TV show which Showtime insists is still on the way.