Halo 4 is more than just a game

It’s a mistake to think of Halo 4 as nothing more than a video game. “I think ultimately we look at Halo 4 and the next set of games as more broad than just the games,” Kiki Wolfkill told the Straight. “I think it's about reinventing entertainment. And reinventing what it is to experience story and gameplay.”

Wolfkill is the executive producer on Halo 4, the video game, which was released today (November 6). She and a number of the creative talents from 343 Industries, the Microsoft studio that manages the Halo franchise, were on hand to speak with media at a September press event held near the studio in Kirkland, Washington.

The Halo universe, said Wolfkill, joined by studio head Bonnie Ross for an interview, is rich with story and characters “whether it’s the books or the game or the live-action series”. Ross added that the universe is deep enough that many stories can be told about it. “We have multiple doors in which you can enter,” she said.

Surrounding the next game in the popular—and lucrative—franchise is a live-action web series (the five-episode Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn debuted on October 5) and a two-minute trailer (“Scanned” is a hybrid of computer-generated animation and live-action, a specialty of director Tim Miller) produced by filmmaker David Fincher which premiered on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on October 18. Then there’s the trilogy of novels from science fiction writer Greg Bear. The Forerunner Saga provides backstory and context for the events in the game; the final book is to be published in January.

Even the Halo 4 video game is much bigger than just a single-player campaign. Multiplayer is a requirement, especially from the franchise that helped establish that being able to kill your friends is essential for first-person shooter games. But Halo Infinity, the name given to the wide-ranging multiplayer modes in Halo 4, takes things a step further. For one, it ties in with the story. The USNC Infinity is a space ship, introduced in Forward Unto Dawn, that provides a context for all multiplayer gaming, including War Games, the more traditional competitive play.

But Halo 4 also includes Spartan Ops, which is cooperative. Wolfkill called it a “new way of playing and experiencing gameplay and story in multiplayer”. It’s being delivered as a weekly episodic series beginning immediately after the game releases. Each episode is made up of a short CG film and five missions designed to play co-operatively. And as with everything else Halo, the plots of the episodes tie in with the larger story. Representatives for 343 Industries won’t say how long they plan on continuing the Halo 4 story through episodes of Spartan Ops, but rumours put the “first season” at 10 weeks.

As the first game in the series to be developed internally at Microsoft—Bungie Studios first imagined Halo and have made all but one of the games until now—Microsoft has a lot riding on Halo 4. After all, the franchise has generated nearly US$3 billion in revenues since its debut in 2001.

“It’s hard when you have a number as high as ‘4’ after the name of your game,” admitted Wolfkill. It implies, she said, that the inclination is to cater to an existing audience. “And we definitely want the Halo fans,” she added. “But we really want to bring in new Halo fans.” It’s why Halo 4 has multiple entry points, she said.

And it's why, despite Halo 4 being rated for mature audiences, something like Forward Unto Dawn is rated for viewers over 14 years old. “Our universe is not an ‘M’ universe,” said Ross. “But our first-person shooter is. And we’re pretty deliberate about that.”