I know this probably sounds obvious at this point, but Xbox can’t keep asking Halo and Gears of War to solve problems those franchises never created in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of them, almost equally, and I understand how important they are to Xbox. I’m also not remotely arguing that Microsoft should just shove them in a museum and pretend Master Chief and Marcus Fenix are ancient artifacts that don’t matter anymore. Xbox would be foolish to have those franchises and not use them, even today. The problem is that using them is not the same thing as building a future around them.
Here is the part Xbox seems to understand internally, even if its public strategy keeps circling back to the same familiar names. According to The Game Business, one Xbox studio boss described the company as “chasing a declining market” with franchises “past their prime,” while another leader said Xbox is “spread across too many projects, platforms and business models.” Of course, both ideas can be true at the same time. Xbox probably does need more focus, but if focus means pouring more money into Halo and Gears of War because those are the brands everyone recognizes, then Xbox is mistaking memory for forward motion.
Halo: Campaign Evolved’s Most Controversial Change Is Basically Genius
Halo: Campaign Evolved’s most controversial change could help the remake reach new players without losing what made the original campaign matter.
Halo and Gears of War Were the Right Games at the Right Time
Before I get into the meat of this argument, let me be clear that I understand why Xbox would look at Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day as two of its safest options right now. Halo has needed a real course correction for a while, and going back to Combat Evolved is about as clean as that course correction can get. Gears of War: E-Day is appealing for a similar reason, because it takes the franchise back to the most frightening day in its history and simultaneously brings back Gears of War‘s iconic horror feel, before it had decades of baggage attached to it.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
So yes, I get it. If Halo: Campaign Evolved ends up being great—and I’m confident it will in one way or another—it could remind players why Halo was once the game people bought an Xbox to play. If Gears of War: E-Day is great—and I’ll play it and love it whether it is or not—it could remind players why Gears of War once made Xbox feel like the console everyone needed to have, lest they miss out on one of the loudest, grittiest, most action-packed games ever made.
The problem, though, is that both games are reaching backward, even if they are doing it for understandable reasons. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a full remake of the very first Halo game, and Gears of War: E-Day, even if it isn’t a remake, still revolves around Gears of War‘s past rather than its future, both tonally and narratively. Both projects are aiming at the exact versions of those franchises people miss most, and honestly, that might be the smartest thing Xbox can do with them right now.
Xbox probably does need more focus, but if focus means pouring more money into Halo and Gears of War because those are the brands everyone recognizes, then Xbox is mistaking memory for forward motion.
Even so, there is a limit to how far that can take the company. The main reason Halo was so special is that it made Xbox feel necessary at a time when Xbox still had to prove it deserved to exist. Microsoft was the outsider then, and Halo gave players a reason to take it seriously almost overnight. Of course, Gears of War did a very similar thing for the Xbox 360. Ultimately, it made that console feel like the beefiest box on the market and almost effortlessly convinced a host of players that it was the box they needed sitting on their entertainment centers at home. In a way, Gears of War felt like the Xbox 360 showing off, and that was perfect for it at the time.
But that’s also the part Xbox has to be careful with now. Halo: Campaign Evolved can make people nostalgic and potentially introduce a brand-new audience of players to the Halo franchise for the first time on account of that nostalgia. Gears of War: E-Day can make people nostalgic for what Gears of War used to feel like as well, while doing its own bit of on-boarding due to its prequel status. However, nostalgia isn’t the same thing as discovery, as nostalgia looks backward while discovery looks forward—and Xbox badly needs players to discover something new again.
I hope both games are excellent. I really do. There is no version of this where Xbox is better off with a bad Halo remake or a disappointing Gears of War prequel. A strong reception to Halo: Campaign Evolved and a strong reception to Gears of War: E-Day would certainly help a lot, especially after so many years of Xbox struggling to give players a reason to feel confident about where it is headed. Still, those games can only remind people of what Xbox used to do well. They cannot, by themselves, become the thing Xbox does next.
Xbox Needs Something New That Feels Impossible to Ignore
What made Halo and Gears of War so important to Xbox wasn’t simply that they eventually became massive video game franchises. Halo almost single-handedly gave the original Xbox a reason to exist, while Gears of War made the Xbox 360 look like the primo example of next-generation hardware. Now, Xbox needs to figure out what kind of game could make players look at it that way again, and I don’t think the answer is another attempt to manufacture the next Halo by committee. The lesson from Halo and Gears isn’t “let’s make another massive shooter.” The lesson is “let’s make something players can’t get out of their heads if they tried,” even if it starts smaller than the company might prefer.
Nostalgia isn’t the same thing as discovery, as nostalgia looks backward while discovery looks forward—and Xbox badly needs players to discover something new again.
The Game Business report includes one line from a development expert that gets to the heart of the issue. If Xbox thinks it can move money onto Halo and turn it into a “95 Metacritic smash hit,” that person called the idea “delusional.” Harsh as that sounds, the point is fair. Money can help a game, sure, but it can’t make an old franchise feel young again, and that’s why the reported studio situation feels so frustrating.
The Game Business mentioned Compulsion, Ninja Theory, Double Fine, Undead Labs, and others being in talks to avoid closure, and those are exactly the kinds of studios Xbox should be careful with. No, they aren’t all going to make the next billion-dollar franchise. But they also shouldn’t be judged only by whether they can. Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day can still be major wins for Xbox, and I hope they are because, honestly, Xbox needs those wins. After that, though, it needs something players don’t already have old memories attached to. Halo and Gears already carried Xbox once, and building the future around them again would only prove how badly Xbox needs something new.
