Sadly I think this could happen for a few reasons . .
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Microsoft could think that Halo has hit it’s peak audience, and won’t grow anymore.
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Microsoft could lose a lot of money from the next Xbox, and feel they need to sell assets.
Selling Halo to a company like Activision, EA, or Sony could bring in needed money.
- Microsoft see’s Halo and 343 as the easiest asset to get rid of.
The only real way I can think of for Microsoft to not need to do these things if the next Xbox doesn’t do good, is to allow Halo to be released 6 months to a year on other platforms after it comes out on Microsoft’s console first.
> 1. Microsoft could think that Halo has hit it’s peak audience, and won’t grow anymore.
>
> 2. Microsoft could lose a lot of money from the next Xbox, and feel they need to sell assets.
>
> Selling Halo to a company like Activision, EA, or Sony could bring in needed money.
>
> 3. Microsoft see’s Halo and 343 as the easiest asset to get rid of.
But Halo is one of Microsoft’s greatest assets. Halo has had a long history of success. Having near universal praise for each gain, quoted as having ‘saved’ the previous Xbox, having revolutionized the original Xbox Live, and it has achieved record-breaking financial success and playtime. And hence it is considered to be the Xbox’s flagship series and the Master Chief is even seen as a symbol for the Xbox.
Microsoft selling Halo makes as much sense as Nintendo selling Mario. Even if Microsoft entered a predicament of financial jeopardy, they probably wouldn’t sell Halo because that would only count as a loss for them. I think they would more likely sell a lesser Xbox exclusive like the Fable series or something.
And why would “hitting a peak” mean no more potential to sell games and merchandise?
> > 1. Microsoft could think that Halo has hit it’s peak audience, and won’t grow anymore.
> >
> > 2. Microsoft could lose a lot of money from the next Xbox, and feel they need to sell assets.
> >
> > Selling Halo to a company like Activision, EA, or Sony could bring in needed money.
> >
> > 3. Microsoft see’s Halo and 343 as the easiest asset to get rid of.
>
> But Halo is one of Microsoft’s greatest assets. Halo has had a long history of success. Having near universal praise for each gain, quoted as having ‘saved’ the previous Xbox, having revolutionized the original Xbox Live, and it has achieved record-breaking financial success and playtime. And hence it is considered to be the Xbox’s flagship series and the Master Chief is even seen as a symbol for the Xbox.
>
> Microsoft selling Halo makes as much sense as Nintendo selling Mario. Even if Microsoft entered a predicament of financial jeopardy, they probably wouldn’t sell Halo because that would only count as a loss for them. I think they would more likely sell a lesser Xbox exclusive like the Fable series or something.
>
> And why would “hitting a peak” mean no more potential to sell games and merchandise?
It all really and sadly comes down to how much money Halo brings in for Microsoft.
If it doesn’t make Microsoft a profit, then it’s at risk of being gotten rid off.
Microsoft’s big investors and board members for all we know could care less about the legacy of Halo =(
Edit = Of course money could still be from merchandise, because it cost less to make merchandise, compared to a AAA Halo game.
I can see your concern, but I think its unlikely.
And besides, if it is sold to another publisher, it may be better as it will end up on more gaming platforms expanding Halos audience.
But of course, that comes with the risk that the new developer may ruin Halo forever.
off topic, but can you imagine the laughter if Halo got sold to Activision and Bungie got hold of Halo again? (which is extremely unlikely since they are making Destiny).
> I can see your concern, but I think its unlikely.
>
> And besides, if it is sold to another publisher, it may be better as it will end up on more gaming platforms expanding Halos audience.
>
> But of course, that comes with the risk that the new developer may ruin Halo forever.
>
> off topic, but can you imagine the laughter if Halo got sold to Activision and Bungie got hold of Halo again? (which is extremely unlikely since they are making Destiny).
I would think that’s what Activision would do.
I would never buy a Halo game published by Activision though.
I think it goes: Next XBOX in jeopardy if 343 fails.
I think we’re all here to reassure that ‘HALO’ is not in jeopardy. My personal opinion is that we gotta wait until we hear about the new Xbox, to make any harsh judgements.
But.
If the new Xbox does suck, I don’t want Halo going down with it. I’ll rather it jump ship to another console… except Nintendo Wii (If it jumped to gameboy or something like that, that’ll be cool, or N64 =3=) Well, PC would be the best jump in my opinion.
I really don’t think you understand marketing. 
Also, what happens to GOW if MS “fails” then?
> I really don’t think you understand marketing.
>
> Also, what happens to GOW if MS “fails” then?
Doesn’t it all just come down to how much the Halo franchise brings in compared to how much Microsoft puts into it ?
If the next Xbox fails bad, Microsoft’s big investors and board members will be upset, because most if not all of them just want to make money =(
I doubt Halo’s legacy means much to them, if at all =(
GOW isn’t in the same boat as Halo, Epic has a deal with Microsoft, 343 is apart of Microsoft.
I think you grossly misunderstand the profit involved with the Halo franchise and merchandise, especially Halo 4. Do you know how much money is derived from approx. 8,000,000 game sales or the 1500 products of Halo merchandise that 343i manage?
> I think you grossly misunderstand the profit involved with the Halo franchise and merchandise, especially Halo 4. Do you know how much money is derived from approx. 8,000,000 game sales or the 1500 products of Halo merchandise that 343i manage?
A couple Billion dollars ?
Making and launching the next Xbox would cost more right ?
> > I think you grossly misunderstand the profit involved with the Halo franchise and merchandise, especially Halo 4. Do you know how much money is derived from approx. 8,000,000 game sales or the 1500 products of Halo merchandise that 343i manage?
>
> A couple Billion dollars ?
>
> Making and launching the next Xbox would cost more right ?
I highly doubt the next xbox would cost anywhere near $1 billion when all is said and done. The massive market buying strategy of the original xbox was some $500 million world-wide. It was a massive once off to buy market share and branding on a global scale and position the xbox as the premier living room games console that also plays movies, TV, music, apps etc. Xbox always knew it was going to expand beyond just gaming.
The next generation won’t have marketing or R&D budgets like that, not even close IMO.
You also have to factor in the money XBL make from subscriptions. They claim approx. 70 million xbox live subscribers, I wonder what percentage are gold or recurring subscribers but that is an insane revenue base to call upon for your next generation R&D, production, developer support, marketing, distribution etc.
Most likely at say 60% of that number paying for gold XBL the revenue is over $2-2.5 billion per year if gold subscription is considered $49 per year. That is not even factoring in profit on hardware, peripherals, licensing, game royalties, arcade and more.
> > > I think you grossly misunderstand the profit involved with the Halo franchise and merchandise, especially Halo 4. Do you know how much money is derived from approx. 8,000,000 game sales or the 1500 products of Halo merchandise that 343i manage?
> >
> > A couple Billion dollars ?
> >
> > Making and launching the next Xbox would cost more right ?
>
> I highly doubt the next xbox would cost anywhere near $1 billion when all is said and done. The massive market buying strategy of the original xbox was some $500 million world-wide. It was a massive once off to buy market share and branding on a global scale and position the xbox as the premier living room games console that also plays movies, TV, music, apps etc. Xbox always knew it was going to expand beyond just gaming.
>
> The next generation won’t have marketing or R&D budgets like that, not even close IMO.
>
> You also have to factor in the money XBL make from subscriptions. They claim approx. 70 million xbox live subscribers, I wonder what percentage are gold or recurring subscribers but that is an insane revenue base to call upon for your next generation R&D, production, developer support, marketing, distribution etc.
>
> Most likely at say 60% of that number paying for gold XBL the revenue is over $2-2.5 billion per year if gold subscription is considered $49 per year. That is not even factoring in profit on hardware, peripherals, licensing, game royalties, arcade and more.
Hopefully that is the case, so Microsoft doesn’t force a increase in the price of a Gold membership, or the launch price of the next Xbox.
I mostly use my 360 for gaming, like 95% for games, and the left over 5% buying tv shows/movies.
I already don’t like that I pay $5.00 extra for gold already. Because of Microsoft adding more media services.
Also wouldn’t manufacturing be high because of the new hardware ?
> Also wouldn’t manufacturing be high because of the new hardware ?
Thanks to Moore’s Law, you can pick up a computer with 4GB RAM, a quad-core CPU, and a decent graphics card for about $300 - all of which are a great leap over the 360’s current specs. Not to mention, manufacturers always want to turn a profit, so the manufacturing cost of a device with such specs will be lower than the retail price.
> > Also wouldn’t manufacturing be high because of the new hardware ?
>
> Thanks to Moore’s Law, you can pick up a computer with 4GB RAM, a quad-core CPU, and a decent graphics card for about $300 - all of which are a great leap over the 360’s current specs. Not to mention, manufacturers always want to turn a profit, so the manufacturing cost of a device with such specs will be lower than the retail price.
I didn’t think of Moore’s Law, it’s very good that it happens.
Hopefully Microsoft won’t lose so much money with the next Xbox, so they don’t have to sell assets, like Halo and 343.
Halo 4 brought in 220 million dollars on its release date and 300 million dollars during its first week, which is a new record for the franchise. If Halo 4 made a new record, I’m fairly sure Microsoft is going to keep the series around for a while.