The Halo franchise is coming to Windows Mixed Reality in some form or another, Microsoft has confirmed. The logo of the longtime Microsoft franchise appeared in a recent unveiling of all the different properties and companies which are developing for the new augmented reality platform, joining the likes of Ark Park, Arizona Sunshine, Hulu, Skyworld and Sony Pictures.
As one of the biggest first-party drivers of its hardware in the past, Microsoft will no doubt be hoping that Halo can once again do the same for its new hardware platform. However, what guise the Halo experience will arrive in is anyone’s guess. It has not been made clear yet whether Microsoft is working with 343 Industries to develop a full-fledged VR Halo game, a Halo VR experience, or merely some augmented reality objects that can be inserted into real-world scenes.
That’s the difficulty with nailing down anything about Windows Mixed Reality at the moment — it covers the whole gamut of virtual reality headsets and augmented reality devices like the Hololens.
Microsoft’s focus on mixed reality as its terminology for the broad spectrum of devices and companion software is quite forward thinking, as UploadVR highlights, but it does mean we’re left in the dark when it comes to specifics. We have previously seen Halo augmented reality experiences for marketing purposes, so this Halo mixed reality experience could be much like that.
But it could equally be what many gamers would likely be more interested in: a first person Halo game in virtual reality. As much as there’s been no real hint of such a game in development, when the likes of Bethesda is busy porting over its mainstream shooter titles to first person VR, it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch of the imagination for Microsoft to opt for something similar. Especially when it has new hardware from various manufacturing partners it wants to push.
Whatever the Halo experience ends up being in Windows Mixed Reality though, it will have good company. Some of the biggest VR game developers and movie studios have signed up to make content for the new platform, so it will not be lacking for software. The chicken and egg problem is far less likely to exist on Microsoft’s burgeoning platform than it was during the early days of VR headsets.
