Microsoft will release “Halo 5: Guardians” for the Xbox One and the “Halo” original series from Steven Spielberg in fall 2015, the company announced Friday.
The “Halo” sci-fi shooter, which originally debuted in 2001, is Xbox’s biggest videogame franchise. The previous installment, “Halo 4,” rang up sales of $300 million in the first week of release in 2012. The fourth and fifth titles are produced by 343 Industries, while the first three were from game studio Bungie.
Showtime Networks is in talks with Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios on a partnership for the “Halo” TV series under which episodes would run first on the premium cable network, Variety reported this month.
SEE ALSO: Showtime Near Deal to Partner with Xbox Studios on ‘Halo’ Series
The Spielberg-produced “Halo” series “will stand alone, as well as complement and enrich the game experience,” Bonnie Ross, g.m. of 343 Industries, wrote in a blog post Friday. Microsoft plans to release additional details about the forthcoming “Halo” projects June 9 at the E3 tradeshow in L.A.
“‘Halo 5: Guardians’ is a bigger effort than ‘Halo 4,’” Ross said. “That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand-new and more powerful engine.”
SEE ALSO: Xbox One Drops to $399 in June, Gives Free Access to Netflix, HBO Go, Other Apps
Xbox Entertainment Studios chief Nancy Tellem touted the “Halo” series and a lineup of six other original shows and 11 others in development at its Digital Content NewFronts presentation for advertisers last month in New York.
Microsoft also has plans for a separate “Halo” digital feature from Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Prods., directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Heroes”).
