It’s A Sad Time To Be A Halo Fan

July 18, 2025

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Halo has long been regarded as Xbox’s flagship franchise, but the series is no longer what it used to be. The original Halo trilogy was groundbreaking and changed FPS games as you know them; however, that impact is just not present anymore in the recent installments. It’s no surprise fans are worried about the future of Halo, especially concerning a rumored remaster. While not officially confirmed yet, a Halo: Combat Evolved remaster is reportedly in the works, with even Phil Spencer alluding to it at the end of this year’s Xbox Games Showcase.

Reliable insider YouTuber Rebs Gaming spoke to two sources close to the project, however, and concerningly, these sources apparently haven’t heard anything about the multiplayer. This leads many to believe that the Halo: Combat Evolved remaster may not include the multiplayer mode at all. This seems like a potentially fatal mistake, but when viewed from Xbox’s perspective, the frustrating decision does make a certain amount of sense.

Halo Isn’t Xbox’s #1 Brand Anymore

Halo Is Being Replaced By A Different FPS

While many people still see Halo as the face of Xbox, the company’s recent efforts haven’t focused as much on that part of the brand. Looking at what Xbox has pushed the most as of late, it feels clear that Xbox’s premier franchise is now Call of Duty. Even though many players are dropping Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, it’s still selling like gangbusters, and undoubtedly racking in a lot more cash for Microsoft than Halo is.

Master Chief from Halo Infinite next to Xbox Series X|S console

With new games from Xbox studios being released for multiple platforms, the availability of many exclusive titles are unclear going into the future.

Call of Duty appears to be the primary focal point of Xbox right now, especially for Xbox Game Pass, despite numerous shortcomings regarding COD‘s availability on the service. Unlike Halo, which has declined from its peak position at the forefront of gaming culture, Call of Duty remains the top FPS multiplayer game series on the market today, and it’s not surprising that Xbox doesn’t want to release another multiplayer FPS title that isn’t COD.

Xbox Wants Call Of Duty To Be The Top Multiplayer FPS Game Available

Why Create More Competition For Yourself?

I think it’s quite telling that after Xbox announced its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in January 2022, there have been practically no first-party multiplayer FPS game releases from Xbox that aren’t Call of Duty. The only one that released was Quake Champions in August 2022, which was essentially dead on arrival and didn’t even receive console ports. Since then, Halo Infinite’s planned Battle Royale mode was canceled, and DOOM: The Dark Ages removed the series’ staple multiplayer.

Spectre sneaking around a corner in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.

With Black Ops 7 on the horizon, I’m doubtful if Treyarch will be able to top the last best Call of Duty from 2015, which still holds up to this day.

These elements could have been cut for numerous reasons, but I think a likely reason was to prevent the games from competing with Call of Duty, Xbox’s biggest franchise. Why make a highly successful Halo Battle Royale when that’ll affect Warzone? Xbox still releases plenty of FPS games, but they’re either single-player or cooperative experiences. Making the Halo: Combat Evolved remaster campaign-only would still be a huge letdown, but it makes perfect sense for Xbox to go down this route so that Halo’s multiplayer doesn’t compete with Call of Duty.

Source: Rebs Gaming/YouTube