Details and images from a cancelled VR Halo game have surfaced online. The Halo franchise is quite expansive. Although it began as nothing more than a launch title for the original Xbox, it quickly evolved into a massive entertainment franchise beyond gaming. Microsoft and Bungie opted to expand the world via Halo books that offered more Master Chief adventures, explored new characters, expanded the world, and much more. Although some games like Halo: Reach have controversially taken liberties and ignored the canon of the books, they're still a big piece of the IP. The series continued to expand with a movie at one point, but it was canceled, and later evolved into a TV series on Paramount+. Halo has even received arcade games that can be found all over the place.

According to a new leak, Halo almost made the jump to VR. According to Rebs Gaming, Halo almost had a VR title in 2017. 343 Industries was exploring the concept, but dropped it due to the challenges with developing VR games and the limited user base. 343 also interviewed a number of developers which showed promise, but it seems none of them were able to justify actually making the game. A number of images from an internal pitch with concept images were leaked and although there's no story details, it seems like it would have revolved around Master Chief in some capacity. The game also features some unique ideas for solving traversal within VR, such as giving the player a jet pack. Some footage of a Halo game using VR also surfaced, but it looks more like a mod for a Halo game that shows what could be possible if a proper game was made.

Halo Infinite Virtual Reality project called Reverie that 343 considered creating in 2017 but didn’t due to hard challenges with VR and limited VR users. However there were a few companies 343 interviewed that had an extreme amount of promise. By Dan Chosich. #Halo #Xbox pic.twitter.com/L8Zy82SGn5

— Rebs Gaming (@Mr_Rebs_) July 6, 2022

In response to my post about the canceled Halo VR project, here’s our only look at what Halo VR would look like. This was created by Nibre_ who was hired by 343 as a Halo MCC engineer after he posted this in 2019 👀 #Halo #Xbox pic.twitter.com/UvOQGGw4mg

— Rebs Gaming (@Mr_Rebs_) July 8, 2022

Ultimately, it seems unlikely this will ever get made as Xbox has expressed skepticism over VR. Perhaps if PlayStation VR2 is a run away success, Xbox may reconsider the possibility of VR and it would be likely they would want to then invest in a Halo VR game. Whether or not it happens remains to be seen, but it seems like something fans would probably eat up given all of the possibilities for a Halo VR game.

Posted: Jul 11, 2022 7:58 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/cancelled-halo-vr-game-leaks-online/