Activision and Sledgehammer Games Could Develop the Next Halo Title

Following last month's release of Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the original game, the franchise's future remains unclear. That comes down to a number of factors: a difficult development cycle, layoffs at Halo Studios, two previously canceled projects, and Campaign Evolved's sales, which reportedly came in below Microsoft's expectations.

In light of this, insider Rebs Gaming has shared some behind-the-scenes details on Halo's future in a new YouTube video. Perhaps the most interesting bit is that Microsoft is reportedly considering having Activision develop the next installment, with Sledgehammer Games (Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: WWII) mentioned as a potential studio for the job. Rebs Gaming also reports that future Halo entries could end up being developed by other divisions going forward, while Halo Studios shifts its focus to content development instead. You can check that out below:

Halo's future is outsourcing + other rumours by Rebs Gaming

• 15+ studios worked on building campaign evolved. Involves everything from top to bottom, ie. Enemy ai, level design, gameplay systems, literally everything.
• Rumor that Activision could be making a Halo game.
• Supposedly Activision built a basic prototype Halo game to test.
• Sledgehammer Games would lead the Halo game.
• Idea is that other outsourced studios build the game to speed up development times while Halo Studios work on making content for the game.

There have also already been rumors the Halo IP itself might move over to Activision —Windows Central editor Jez Corden brought this up on one of his podcasts, adding that if it does happen, listeners heard it there first. However, nothing's been decided yet, so these reports should still be taken with a grain of salt.

As for Halo: Campaign Evolved, updated estimates from Alinea Analytics put the game at around 1.2 million copies sold across all platforms, generating roughly $67 million. We also know Halo Studios has recently canceled two projects —a multiplayer title (Project Ekur) and a single-player title, with no details available on the latter. Beyond that, the developers apparently aren't working on any game right now—even the rumored Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes haven't been given the green light yet.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is now available on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.