Guide Note

Halo 4 is the rumored sequel to Halo 3, the first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie exclusively for the Xbox 360. Halo 4 is not to be confused with Halo Wars, the prequel in development for Halo: Combat Evolved, or Peter Jackson’s episodic trilogy based on the Halo series.

Timeline

July 14, 2006: Marty O’Donnell (Bungie audio director): "We all want Halo to be the great ending to an epic trilogy. We look at what Peter Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings films - which each film bettering the previous one and that is what we are aiming for."

September 25, 2007: Lee Wilson (cinematic designer): "There’s a lot of people who have been working on Halo much longer than us two have and they’re really interested in exploring new games, new stories, and whatever comes out of those conversations is what we’re going to pursue. We’re still going to make games for us.” And Joe Tung, multiplayer producer, said that the team was “figuring out right now what we’re working on next. We really don’t know what that is yet but as soon as we know, everyone else will know. Halo 4 is not in development."

October 8, 2007: Neill Blomkamp (Halo movie director): Confirmed that the Halo film "is entirely dead," but mentioned "we are already at work on another Halo game — I wouldn’t call it Halo 4, but it is based in the Halo Universe and represents a collaboration between Bungie and Peter Jackson. Halo 3 was definitely not the last Bungie Halo game."

November 9, 2007: Harold Ryan (Bungie studio manager): "Obviously Microsoft wanted us to make more Halo games. Both I and some of the more senior guys from the original Halo game have deep piles of game designs for the Halo universe that we are excited to build at some point. If the stars align and motivations are good and the platforms are right we’ll do them."

2008: Bungie is still supporting Halo 3 with new map packs, as well two upcoming Halo spin-offs to be tentatively released in the fourth quarter of 2008.