Released in 2009, Halo Wars was a fairly experimental departure for the franchise, but it's an experiment that paid off. Arguably one of the best real-time strategy games for consoles, Halo Wars' greatest strength is its accessibility, easing players into the wider world of strategy games through easy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay. Halo Wars also featured a compelling story that continued to flesh out the wider Halo universe. Though it wasn't perfect, Halo Wars got a lot right, and its approach to the greater Halo series could still be adopted today by several Microsoft franchises.

Though Halo may always be Microsoft's heavy-hitter, the company isn't without its other iconic first-party IPs. While Microsoft certainly doesn't have as many beloved franchises under its belt as its competitors, there's still a handful that could work surprisingly well with the Halo Wars formula, though some may need a little tweaking before they get the real-time strategy treatment.

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Other Microsoft Franchises That Could Work With the Halo Wars Formula

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The most obvious Microsoft franchise that could adopt the Halo Wars formula is Gears of War. Debuting all the way back in 2006, Gears of War is still one of Microsoft's most beloved franchises, with entries still releasing every few years or so. Being a Sci-Fi military shooter, Gears of War naturally shares a lot of similarities with the Halo franchise, and that makes it the perfect candidate for a Halo Wars-like spinoff. Players could control either the Locust or the Coalition, both with their own sets of unique units. Throughout the Gears of War series, fans see a variety of different Locust ground and air units, along with many different Coalition soldier and vehicle types, meaning that the groundwork is already there for an RTS adaptation.

Another popular Microsoft-owned franchise that could get a Halo Wars-like spinoff is Minecraft. The Minecraft series has already seen a number of genre-bending spinoffs, and the upcoming Minecraft Legends could pave the way for even more strategy-focused titles. Though Minecraft Legends does have some RTS elements, it's technically an action-strategy game, meaning that the player is in direct control of a character on the battlefield. If Minecraft Legends does well, then a fully-fledged Minecraft RTS in a similar vein to Halo Wars could be on the table; it could even borrow units and structures from Legends while using them from a new angle.

Crackdown is one of the most under-utilized franchises in Microsoft's arsenal, and it's one that's primed for a Halo Wars RTS spinoff. While the real hook of Crackdown's gameplay has always been controlling the agent on the field and using all of their enhanced abilities first-hand, these powers lend themselves well to an RTS game, much like Halo Wars' Spartans. Admittedly, the Crackdown universe would need to be tweaked a little to fit with the RTS genre, but there's plenty to draw from when it comes to factions and units, and at this point, any Crackdown game would be a win for fans.

One of the more tricky Microsoft franchises to adapt into a Halo Wars-like RTS, but potentially one of the most exciting, is Sea of Thieves. The general gameplay loop of Sea of Thieves might not immediately lend itself to a real-time strategy spinoff, but with a few tweaks, it could end up being the most intriguing RTS project. Players could control a fleet of ships and attempt to scavenge from islands while fending off ghostly threats and fellow pirates, essentially following the same premise as Sea of Thieves' regular gameplay loop, but condensing it down into a more streamlined format based on Halo Wars.

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