Remaking a classic video game with modern technology to reach both nostalgic and new audiences has become commonplace in an industry facing financial challenges.
So it was not a huge surprise when Microsoft announced on Friday that it would release an updated version of Halo: Combat Evolved next year, the influential game’s 25th anniversary.
One detail, though, was astounding.
The sci-fi franchise that has helped the company sell four generations of Xbox consoles and generate billions of dollars is coming to the Sony PlayStation, Microsoft’s direct competitor, for the first time. It is the equivalent of Disney letting Mickey Mouse roam Universal Studios.
“We are all seeking to meet people where they are,” Matt Booty, the president of Xbox game content and studios, said in an interview about Microsoft’s strategic shift.
The supersoldier Master Chief, who must protect humanity from alien threats in the first-person shooter Halo, is joining other Microsoft properties that are exclusive no longer. The third-person shooter Gears of War and the Forza racing series made their Sony debuts this year, and Microsoft Flight Simulator will do so in December.
Video game companies have long enticed players to buy consoles with games featuring their mascots. Nintendo developed a family-friendly lineup of characters in the 1980s, and Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda remain moneymakers. Sony’s exclusive franchises include the cinematic adventures Uncharted, God of War and The Last of Us.
Microsoft has decided to move in another direction.
It is an effort to reach more gamers and to maximize revenue after the company opened its wallet to acquire major studios. Microsoft spent $69 billion on Activision Blizzard, which makes Call of Duty and Candy Crush, and $7.5 billion on ZeniMax Media, whose portfolio includes The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
Joost van Dreunen, a market analyst and professor at New York University, said Microsoft’s newest console, the Xbox Series X|S, had been a commercial disappointment since releasing in 2020. Analysts estimate that it has sold at least 32 million units compared to about 80 million units of the PlayStation 5.
“When it comes to consoles, Xbox has always been the bridesmaid and never the bride,” van Dreunen said. “They just haven’t been able to outmaneuver PlayStation and Nintendo.”
Next year’s remake, titled Halo: Campaign Evolved, will be released for the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC. It will not include the original game’s competitive multiplayer modes. But for the first time, four players can cooperatively play the campaign online.
Microsoft leaders hope that bringing its premier franchises to new audiences will ultimately attract more customers into the Xbox ecosystem. Booty said consumers no longer have a strong attachment to the actual devices they use to play games.
“Our biggest competition isn’t another console,” he said, adding, “We are competing more and more with everything from TikTok to movies.”
There are signs the strategy is working.
Between April and July, six of the top 10 best-selling games on Sony’s consoles were Microsoft properties. Near the top was Forza Horizon 5, four years after it was initially released for Xbox consoles.
Microsoft declined to provide PlayStation 5 sales figures for Forza Horizon 5 and Gears of War: Reloaded, a remake that was released in August. Sony did not respond to a request for comment.
By releasing the first Halo and Gears of War titles on the PlayStation 5 decades later, Microsoft is introducing lucrative franchises to loyal Sony gamers. (Games in both franchises, including a 2011 remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, have been playable on computers.) That exposure may pay dividends if Microsoft brings Gears of War: E-Day, which has a 2026 release date, and Halo Infinite’s eventual follow-up to the PlayStation 5.
Any full-price sales on Sony’s console would be particularly important for Microsoft.
Tens of millions of Xbox owners subscribe to Game Pass, a subscription service whose highest tier provides immediate access to all Microsoft-published games. The company significantly raised that tier’s prices this month amid reports that its decision to include Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as part of the subscription cost the company $300 million in sales. A Microsoft official confirmed that the company was also conducting internal tests for free ad-supported cloud access to some games through a program separate from Game Pass.
The shifting economics of the video game industry have left some analysts wondering if Microsoft plans to leave the console market altogether. Over the summer, the company laid off almost 9,000 employees, many from game studios attached to Xbox. An anticipated reboot of Perfect Dark was canceled altogether.
“Layoffs are difficult,” Booty said. “They are a part of managing our business.”
When the original Xbox was released in November 2001, Microsoft spent about $500 million on marketing to convince players it would become a fixture in the video game business.
Much of the attention went to Halo: Combat Evolved, which impressed players and critics with its robust weapon arsenal, smooth control scheme and addictive multiplayer battles. Console players who wanted to follow the interstellar saga over its six sequels (and one prequel) were required to buy the Xbox 360, the Xbox One and the Xbox Series X|S.
In 2021, shortly before the release of Halo Infinite, Microsoft said it had sold 81 million Halo games; it declined to provide updated figures.
The series was highly influential in the 2000s: Halo 2 set the industry standard for online matchmaking, and Halo 3 generated long lines outside of Best Buys and GameStops. But the franchise’s cultural cachet has diminished since then.
Developers behind Halo: Campaign Evolved described it as a relaunch for the series with new content and modernized gameplay. In this version, Master Chief can sprint across battlefields and wield an energy sword. The environments were rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, the first time the franchise will run on outside software.
“We are evolving the experience,” said Pierre Hintze, the head of Halo Studios. “There is a level of detail with which we now can express the original artistic vision and goals.”
Hintze said the franchise’s story of repelling an alien conquest was refreshing in an era when many games featured reluctant heroes and unclear objectives.
“When you pick up Halo, you know that you are quintessentially good,” he said. “Your job is to save humanity.”
Elizabeth Van Wyck, the chief operating officer and general manager of the Halo franchise, said it was Microsoft’s goal to reach as many players as possible.
“We talk about this as another era for Halo,” she said.
Zachary Small is a Times reporter writing about the art world’s relationship to money, politics and technology.
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