The Microsoft exclusive Halo Series is a long-standing, beloved franchise since the release of the critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved back in 2001. With over 68M hours watched since 2016, Halo continues entertaining loyal viewers. Of course, fans eagerly await more news on Halo Infinite, the next installment for the series. Not to mention, E3 is just around the corner and there is growing speculation that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer will take center stage at the joint Microsoft and Bethesda showcase on June 12th.
Expectations were high after the massive success of Halo: Combat Evolved. Released in 2002, Halo 2 continued building the Series’ legacy and presently leads the franchise with 189K peak viewers. The game’s online multiplayer was a first for Halo and played a major role in the popularity of the game. Furthermore, the success of the game mode helped put Xbox Live, Microsoft’s online service for gaming now called Xbox network, on the map.
The franchise has done its fair share of experiments with the Halo formula. Halo Wars was a real-time strategy game released in 2009. The game was popular enough to garner a sequel in 2017, Halo Wars 2. Combined, both Halo games have over 1.5M hours watched. Strategy games are massively popular with PC gamers thanks to franchises like Age of Empires and Civilization. Halo Wars was a chance for console players to enjoy real-time strategy games too.
Additionally, Halo has experimented with mobile games. In 2012, Halo 4: King of the Hill Fueled by Mountain Dew was released for iOS and Android. Designed to advertise Halo 4, the app is a location-based augmented reality game where players need to buy a Halo 4-branded Mountain Dew or Doritos to obtain a code. Codes increase the player’s standing at the correlating 7-Eleven store. The player with the most codes becomes ‘King of the Hill’ and can receive in-game rewards for Halo 4. Although not a huge Halo success with roughly 1K hours watched, the game may have had some influence in the augmented reality genre with successors Pokémon GO and Harry Potter Wizards Unite.
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