The Halo TV series premiered on the Paramount+ streaming service last month, with two of the nine episodes released so far. The Halo show has seen overall mixed reviews, with an average critic score of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. While it’s too early to declare the series a success or failure, fans will soon feel its impact on Halo Infinite.
343 Industries’ Community Director Brian Jarrard discussed these plans in very broad terms during a recent interview. This crossover is part of the studio’s plans to use the Halo TV series to attract new players to Halo Infinite.
Jarrard spoke briefly about the plans when he sat down for an interview with the Washington Post last month. Unfortunately, he did not offer up any specific details about the new content, saying, “We will have some content that is inspired by the show that will be coming out in the game a little bit further down the road.” Given the vagueness of his statement, it’s not clear if 343 is working on something substantial for Halo Infinite or something as simple as alternate weapon and character skins inspired by the live-action interpretations. Nor did Jarrard offer a timetable for when 343 Industries might implement this new content.
The most likely explanation is that 343 intends to incorporate elements of the show into the upcoming Season 2 of Halo Infinite. Season 2, called “Lone Wolves,” launches on May 3. In addition to new maps, armor, and characters, it will reportedly feature an “evolving seasonal narrative.” According to a Halo Waypoint blog post, that will include things like cinematics and story-themed events. However, fans still know very little about the upcoming season. It’s thus not impossible that Halo Infinite’s Season 2 will be heavily inspired by the ongoing series on Paramount+.
It’s worth noting that the Halo show takes place in a different universe parallel to the games. They still have many of the same characters and still broadly tell the same story of the Human-Covenant war but some important details are different. This includes new or radically changed characters, an original plot, and a greater emphasis on the morally grey side of the UNSC. The Covenant Prophets even have a human advisor, which would be unthinkable in the games’ universe. It’s therefore unclear how 343 intends to combine the two deliberately contradictory series, though many Halo Infinite players seem to be in favor of a crossover.
Unfortunately, the developers have yet to offer up many concrete details. Halo Infinite’s Season 2 is also supposed to introduce co-op and the Forge map editor, fan-favorite features omitted from the release version. Developers already delayed “Lone Wolves” once, and hopefully won’t be postponed again. After all, the Halo Infinite community is impatient to see the new season address the concerns they’ve had for the last several months.
Halo Infinite is available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: The Washington Post