Halo is a military science fiction video game series and media franchise. It was first created by Bungie and is now managed and developed by Halo Studios, which was previously called 343 Industries. Halo Studios is part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios. The series began in November 2001 with the first-person shooter game Halo: Combat Evolved and its related novel, The Fall of Reach. The most recent major game, Halo Infinite, was released in 2021. Other games in the series include real-time strategy and twin-stick shooter games.
Bungie started by making computer games for the Macintosh platform, including Marathon 2: Durandal (1995). In 2000, Microsoft bought Bungie. At that time, Bungie was working on a game that was originally a real-time strategy game. This game later became Halo: Combat Evolved, a first-person shooter game that was exclusive to Microsoft's Xbox console. After Halo became successful, Bungie made more games in the series before becoming independent again in 2007. Microsoft then created 343 Industries to continue developing Halo. This company made games on its own and with other studios. In 2024, 343 Industries changed its name to Halo Studios. This change was part of a plan to make Halo games available on multiple platforms, not just Xbox and Windows.
Halo: Combat Evolved was the Xbox's most important game and helped Microsoft become a major competitor in the video game industry. Later games in the series introduced online multiplayer, social features, and new ways to market games. The Halo games have sold more than 81 million copies worldwide. The franchise has earned over $6 billion in total sales and is among the top 100 highest-grossing media franchises of all time. It includes books, graphic novels, comic books, short films, animated films, movies, and other licensed products.
Story
Millions of years ago, a powerful group of beings from another galaxy, called the Precursors, spread life throughout the galaxy. One of the races they created, the Forerunners, fought against their former creators and nearly wiped out the Precursors. Some Precursors turned into dust, hoping to be reborn later. This dust became faulty, causing living things to change into a new parasitic species that shared a single mind: the Flood. Ancient humans who traveled through space fought both the Flood and the Forerunners. After defeating humans, the Forerunners reduced human technology and society to a simple level, focusing on stopping the Flood. The Forerunners built the Halo Array—massive ring-shaped weapons designed to destroy all life in the galaxy to end the Flood. The Array could be controlled from the Ark, a place outside the range of the Halos where life was stored. When all other options failed, the Array was activated, ending the Flood. The surviving Forerunners then restarted life and left the Milky Way galaxy.
Almost 100,000 years later, in the 26th century, humans, led by the Unified Earth Government and the United Nations Space Command, explored many planets using faster-than-light travel through "slipstream space" (also called hyperspace). Conflicts arose between the government and colonies seeking independence. To suppress rebellions, the Office of Naval Intelligence created the SPARTAN-II Project, training elite soldiers. In 2525, human worlds were attacked by the Covenant, a theocratic group of alien races who believed humans were disrespectful to their gods, the Forerunners. The Covenant started a war to destroy humans. Their advanced technology and large numbers made them powerful, and even though Spartans fought well, they were too few to save humanity. After the Covenant attacked Reach, the last major human stronghold besides Earth, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 became one of the few remaining Spartans.
When humans discovered the Halo rings, they fought the Covenant desperately, as the Covenant believed the rings were tools for spiritual growth, not destruction. Master Chief and his AI, Cortana, helped destroy a Halo ring to stop the Covenant and the Flood. Internal conflict within the Covenant and the truth about the Halo Array’s purpose caused the Covenant to split into a civil war. A former Covenant leader, the Arbiter, joined humans to stop the Covenant from activating the Halo Array through the Ark. The Human-Covenant War ended.
After the war, the UNSC trained new Spartans, and tensions with rebels returned. Master Chief and Cortana accidentally released the Forerunner commander Didact, who briefly tried to dominate humans. Master Chief and Cortana stopped him, though Cortana was thought to have died. Cortana survived and later broke away from the UNSC, claiming control of the galaxy for artificial intelligence, called the "Created." After two years of fighting, Cortana attacked the Banished, a group of former Covenant mercenaries. The Banished defeated Cortana and fought the UNSC for control of Zeta Halo.
Game series
Video game studio Bungie was founded in 1991 in Chicago, Illinois, by Alex Seropian. The following year, Seropian partnered with programmer Jason Jones to market and release Jones' game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. Bungie focused on the Mac game market because it was smaller and easier to compete in. The studio became a leading game developer on the Mac platform, releasing successful games like Myth and Marathon.
In 1997, Bungie began developing a new game, temporarily named "Monkey Nuts." Later, the name was changed to "Blam!" because Jones found it hard to say "Monkey Nuts" to his mother. "Blam!" was planned as a science fiction real-time strategy game set on a hollowed-out world called Solipsis. Over time, the world became a ring-shaped planet named "Halo," which became the game's title.
As Bungie experimented with vehicles that used realistic physics, they moved the camera closer to the action. The team decided it would be more fun to directly control units rather than direct them, shifting the game into a third-person shooter. Halo was announced on July 21, 1999, during the Macworld Conference & Expo. The game's title was finalized only days before the announcement.
At the time, Bungie faced financial challenges. Microsoft was looking for games for its new Xbox console. In June 2000, Microsoft announced it would acquire Bungie. Halo, now a first-person shooter, became a launch title for the Xbox. Bungie moved from Chicago to Redmond, Washington, and had about 14 months to finish the game before the Xbox launched.
The story of Halo began to take shape, with debates at Bungie about how much personality to give the main character. Writer Joe Staten wanted the player character to be more than an "empty vessel," like Half-Life's Gordon Freeman. The team gave the character a sense of humor and decided to refer to him by his naval rank, "Master Chief." Despite a difficult schedule, Halo: Combat Evolved was released as a launch title for the Xbox on November 15, 2001. The Xbox's marketing heavily featured Halo, whose green color palette matched the console's design. Halo was a critical and commercial success, selling with half of every Xbox sold. By July 2006, the game had sold 4.2 million copies and earned $170 million in the United States.
Halo: Combat Evolved introduced many elements common to the franchise. Players fight enemies on foot and in vehicles to complete objectives across an alien landscape. The game limited the number of weapons players could carry to two, requiring careful selection. Players use ranged and melee attacks, as well as grenades. Bungie called the "weapons-grenades-melee" format the "Golden Triangle of Halo." The player has health measured in hit points, which must be replenished with health packs, and a recharging energy shield.
Although Halo was not originally planned as a series, Bungie wanted to create a sequel using ideas cut from Combat Evolved and inspired by fan feedback. Many fans used the System Link feature to play multiplayer in LAN parties. With the launch of Xbox Live, Bungie aimed to bring Halo multiplayer to the internet.
Halo 2 was announced on August 8, 2002, at Microsoft's X02 press event. A demo was shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo the next year, featuring new elements like dual-wielding weapons and hijacking enemy vehicles. However, the game faced development challenges, including a scrapped graphics engine, leadership changes, and delays. A planned multiplayer mode was cut, leaving only a smaller-scale local mode. The game's release date was delayed, and the studio worked under intense pressure to finish it. Halo 2 was released on the Xbox in November 2004 and later for Windows Vista in 2007. Marketing included an alternate reality game called I Love Bees, which told a story set on Earth between Halo and Halo 2. Halo 2 was a critical and commercial success, earning $125 million on its first day and becoming the highest-grossing release in entertainment history at the time. It sold 8 million copies and became the best-selling Xbox game. It also helped increase subscriptions to Xbox Live.
Frustrated by the challenges of Halo 2, Bungie wanted to create a satisfying conclusion with Halo 3. Jason Jones, one of the founders, took a break, leaving the project without clear leadership. Designer Paul Bertone noted that the large team (70–80 people) led to more meetings and slower progress. Some staff members left, including Max Hoberman, who started his own studio. Despite these challenges, Halo 3 developed more smoothly than Halo 2. It was announced at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo and released on the Xbox 360 on September 25, 2007. The game added new elements like deployable equipment and heavy weapons. It also included a map-editing tool called Forge and a feature to record and review gameplay. Halo 3 was a critical and commercial success, earning $170 million in the U.S. in its first 24 hours. It became the best-selling title of the year in the U.S. and the 14th best-selling game of the 2000s.
Dissatisfied with Microsoft's acquisition in 2000 and wanting better profit-sharing for Halo 3, Bungie agreed to become independent after releasing a set number of new Halo games. The studio announced its independence in October 2007. Bungie was contractually required to make two more Halo games. One became Halo: Reach, while another was initially planned with Peter Jackson's Wingnut Interactive. When that project was canceled, Bungie used its ideas for a smaller Halo 3 expansion, later named Halo 3: ODST.
Produced using the Halo 3 engine and assets, ODST was developed by a smaller team of about 20 full-time employees. The game was designed as a noir detective story, with the player uncovering clues in a central world that triggered flashbacks. Halo 3: ODST takes place between *Halo
Cultural influences and themes
Bungie stated that the Halo series used ring-shaped megastructures inspired by ideas from Larry Niven’s Ringworld and Iain M. Banks’ Culture series, including Consider Phlebas and Excession. Jaime Griesemer noted that while the appearance of the Halo rings was not directly influenced by Ringworld, the feeling of being in a vast, distant place and the sense of a grand story were inspired by it. Griesemer also mentioned that Armor by John Steakley influenced Halo, as it showed a soldier reliving the same war repeatedly, creating a sense of hopelessness and endless battle. The Flood were inspired by the assimilating alien species in Christopher Rowley’s The Vang. Some believe the Master Chief’s name, "John 117," may reference a character named Jon 6725416 in Rowley’s Starhammer or the character John Spartan from Demolition Man. An IGN article noted similarities between Halo and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, including the SPARTAN Project and the Covenant Drones resembling the super soldier program and Buggers from the novel. Bungie also acknowledged the film Aliens by James Cameron as a strong influence.
A report by Roger Travis for The Escapist compared Halo to the Latin epic Aeneid by Virgil. Travis pointed out similarities between the stories, with the Flood and Covenant resembling the Carthaginians and Master Chief resembling Aeneas.
The Halo franchise uses religious symbols and names. The Flood and Gravemind are seen as demonic or satanic figures, and Master Chief’s first encounter with the Flood is like a journey to hell. Academic P.C. Paulissen noted that the name "Flood" may reference the biblical flood, with the Forerunner Ark acting as a shelter from the Flood’s destructive power, similar to how the Bible describes protection from a flood.
Esports
After the first Halo game was released, players started organizing spontaneous tournaments and local events. Bungie saw the popularity of these games as inspiration for designing the online multiplayer features in Halo 2. Soon, larger groups began hosting competitive Halo events. In August 2002, G4 Television held the Halo National Championship Finals, a free-for-all tournament with sixteen players from across the United States. The event was hosted by Wil Wheaton, who is known for his role in Star Trek. The Associates of Gaming Professionals (AGP), an organization focused only on Halo, held its first event in November 2002. Mike Sepso and Sundance DiGiovanni created Major League Gaming in the same year after seeing friends bet on their Halo matches.
In 2014, Microsoft and 343 Industries launched the Halo Championship Series (HCS), a professional Halo league. This league was formed in partnership with the Electronic Sports League (ESL). Seasons 1 and 2 of the HCS took place using The Master Chief Collection. In August 2015, Microsoft announced it would increase the total prize money for the HCS to US$1 million for the debut of the Halo World Championship event for Halo 5. Crowdfunding helped raise a total prize pool of US$2.5 million, which became the largest console esports prize pool ever recorded.
Music
Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori worked together to create the soundtracks for Bungie's Halo games. Bungie asked them to make music that felt ancient and mysterious for Halo's first game. O'Donnell chose to use Gregorian chant, singing with others to add vocal parts. The music changed based on what happened in the game. To make the soundtrack easier to listen to, O'Donnell organized the music into separate groups called suites. For Halo 2, the soundtrack included songs by Incubus and Breaking Benjamin, along with orchestral music. Steve Vai added guitar solos. Halo 3's music reused themes from the first game to connect the end of the trilogy. Unlike earlier soundtracks, which used computer-made sounds, Halo 3's music was recorded by a 60-person orchestra and a group of 24 singers. In ODST, more jazz and noir styles, like saxophones, were used. O'Donnell also wrote more serious music to match the darker story in Reach.
For Halo 4, audio director Sotaro Tojima searched for a composer in 2010 and chose Neil Davidge after a year. Neil Davidge and Kazuma Jinnouchi composed Halo 4's music. Davidge thought scoring a game would be like making a movie, but he learned video games required a different method. Much of Halo 4's music was written on guitar or piano. At home, Davidge sometimes sang melodies into a recording device for later use. He used unfinished game spaces and concept art for inspiration. Kazuma Jinnouchi composed additional music for Halo 4 and was the sole composer for Halo 5. Working at 343 Industries gave Jinnouchi early access to the project, making his work on Halo 5 less difficult than Halo 4.
The music for Halo Infinite was created by Gareth Coker, Curtis Schweitzer, Joel Corelitz, Alex Bhore, and Eternal Time & Space. Joel Yarger, the music supervisor at 343 Industries, oversaw the project. The soundtrack was released digitally on December 8, 2021.
Other composers who worked on Halo games include Stephen Rippy, who used O'Donnell's music for inspiration and included the Halo theme in his work for Halo Wars. Gordy Haab, Brian Lee White, and Brian Trifon composed music for Halo Wars 2. Tom Salta contributed to projects like Halo 2 Anniversary and Spartan Assault.
The music from Halo games helped increase interest in chant music. The Halo theme became a popular song among gamers. In the late 2010s, videos showed teenagers gathering to sing the theme together.
Other media
The Halo franchise includes many types of merchandise and adaptations beyond the video games. This includes bestselling novels, graphic novels, and other officially licensed products. Many action figures and vehicles based on Halo have been made. Joyride Studios created action figures for Halo and Halo 2, while Halo 3 poseable and collectible action figures, designed for collectors, were made by McFarlane Toys. These figures were among the best-selling action figures in 2007 and 2008. MEGA Bloks partnered with Microsoft to create Halo-themed toys.
As part of Microsoft's multimedia efforts, Microsoft Studios created a tie-in novel for Combat Evolved. Eric Nylund wrote Halo: The Fall of Reach in seven weeks, and it was published in October 2001. Nylund later wrote additional Halo novels, including First Strike (2003) and Ghosts of Onyx (2006). A novelization of the game, titled Halo: The Flood, was written by William C. Dietz in 2003. Other Halo novels were written by Joseph Staten (Contact Harvest), Tobias S. Buckell, Karen Traviss, Greg Bear (The Forerunner Saga), Matt Forbeck, John Shirley, Troy Denning, Cassandra Rose Clarke, and Kelly Gay. Two short story collections, Halo: Evolutions (2009) and Halo: Fractures (2015), were also released.
The Halo universe was adapted into comics in 2006 with the release of The Halo Graphic Novel, a collection of four short stories published by Marvel Comics. Marvel created several other Halo comic series. Halo: Uprising, written by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, connects events from Halo 2 and Halo 3. Originally planned to end before Halo 3’s 2007 release, delays caused the final issue to be published in 2009. Two additional comic series were announced in 2009: Halo: Helljumper by Peter David, set before Combat Evolved, and Halo: Blood Line by Fred Van Lente, focusing on a black ops team of Spartan soldiers. Marvel also released a three-part comic adaptation of Halo: The Fall of Reach in 2011.
Dark Horse Comics produced several Halo series, starting with Halo: Initiation, a three-part series released in August 2013. Another ongoing comic series, Halo: Escalation, covered events after Halo 4 and ran for 24 issues from 2013 to 2015.
In 2005, Columbia Pictures president Peter Schlessel worked outside the studio system to produce a Halo film. Alex Garland wrote a script, which was pitched to studios by couriers dressed as Master Chief. Microsoft required $10 million against 15% of gross profits, but most studios declined, citing the risk imbalance. 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures partnered to produce the film, paying Microsoft $5 million and 10% of gross profits. Peter Jackson was set to be the executive producer, with Neill Blomkamp as director. Before Blomkamp joined, Guillermo del Toro was in talks to direct.
D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote Garland’s script in 2006. Pre-production was halted and restarted multiple times. Later that year, 20th Century Fox threatened to leave the project, prompting Universal to demand changes to revenue deals. Both sides refused, and the project stalled. Blomkamp later created live-action shorts titled Halo: Landfall to promote Halo 3. The film rights reverted to Microsoft.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action film and miniseries set in the Halo universe. Originally released as a webseries with five episodes from October 2012 to November 2012, the story follows Thomas Lasky, a young cadet at Corbulo Academy of Military Science, and his connection to the Master Chief. Lasky appears as a major character in Halo 4. The film version was released on Blu-ray and DVD in December 2012.
On April 3, 2014, Ridley Scott and his production company, Scott Free Productions, announced a Halo digital feature with 343 Industries and Xbox Entertainment Studios. Scott would be the executive producer, with David W. Zucker and Sergio Mimica-Gezzan as directors. The feature, titled Halo: Nightfall, was included with Halo: The Master Chief Collection in November 2014. Nightfall introduces Agent Jameson Locke, played by Mike Colter, and is considered his origin story. The feature is available on the Halo Channel app for Xbox One, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone, and became available for streaming, downloading, and purchase on March 16, 2015.
On May 21, 2013, Xbox Entertainment Studios and 343 Industries announced a live-action Halo television series with Steven Spielberg as executive producer through Amblin Television. The series was set to premiere on Showtime but faced delays. Casting began in 2019, and filming started in 2021. The series premiered on Paramount+ on March 24, 2022.
Microsoft announced at Comic-Con 2009 that it would oversee the production of seven short anime films called Halo Legends. Financed by 343 Industries, the animation was created by six Japanese production houses: Bee Train Production, Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4°C, and Toei Animation. Shinji Aramaki, creator of Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina, served as the project’s creative director. Warner Bros. released Legends on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2010. Six of the stories are part of the Halo canon, while the seventh, made by Toei, was intended as a parody of the universe.
An animated version of The Fall of Reach is included in the Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition and Collector’s Edition.
Legacy
By 2021, more than 81 million copies of Halo games had been sold. The total sales for the Halo franchise reached $6 billion that year. Of this amount, $1.8 billion came from sales of non-game items, such as books and music. Many Halo novels were listed on bestseller lists, including those from Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and The New York Times. Several Halo soundtracks also appeared on the Billboard 200 music chart.
Variety magazine compared Halo to Star Wars, calling it a major cultural influence. The musical theme and the character Master Chief are widely recognized as important symbols in gaming. These elements also represent key parts of the Xbox brand. Characters and ideas from Halo have been used in other games, such as Dead or Alive, Guitar Hero, Killer Instinct, Forza, and Fortnite.
Halo changed how first-person shooter games work on consoles and played a major role in the early success of the Xbox. It became the console's "killer app," meaning it was a key reason people bought the Xbox. A journalist named Anthony John Agnello described Halo 2 as having a huge impact, similar to an event that changed the world. GamesTM said Halo: Combat Evolved changed how video games are played, while Halo 2 introduced Xbox Live, a way for players to connect online. Game Daily noted that Halo 2's release was as significant as major events in other entertainment areas, marking the first time a video game launch became a major cultural moment in the United States.
In 2007, IGN ranked Halo: Combat Evolved as the best Xbox game ever made. Readers also placed it 14th on a list of the top 100 games of all time. Halo 2 was named the second-best Xbox game of all time. Halo 3 won several awards, including "Game of the Year" from Time magazine and "Best Xbox 360 Online Multiplayer Game" and "Innovative Design of 2007" from IGN. Most reviews praised the multiplayer mode, with IGN calling it the strongest in the series and GameSpy saying it would satisfy longtime Halo fans. Some critics, however, said the story in Halo 3 was weak, with The New York Times calling it unimportant and Total Video Games saying the single-player experience was disappointing. The music and sound effects in the games were generally well-received by reviewers.
The Halo series inspired many films made using game technology, a style called machinima. Most of these films are not part of the official Halo story, while others are based on fan-created stories. Microsoft allowed people to share these films for free. One famous example is Red vs. Blue, a comedy series made by Rooster Teeth Productions. It became very popular, both for Halo machinima and for machinima in general. Other machinima series include Arby ‘n the Chief, The Codex, and This Spartan Life, an in-game interview show.