It was unthinkable just a few years ago: Halo, the cult science fiction franchise played by the legendary Master Chief, will arrive in 2026 on PlayStation 5. The remake of the first work, renamed Halo: Evolved CampaignIt will be released simultaneously on Xbox, PS5, PC and even on mobile phones and tablets through Microsoft cloud gaming.
A symbolic revolution that turns the page on the era of exclusivity and confirms the multiplatform strategy now assumed by Microsoft, determined to make Halo a universal gaming icon, rather than simply a standard-bearer for the Xbox brand.
The announcement of Halo: Evolved Campaign on PS5 has also shaken the industry. For many, it marks the end of “the console war”, this historic duel between Xbox and PlayStation for twenty years. A clash starring emblematic licenses: god of war, Unexplored EITHER spider man by Sony, and Halo, gears of war or even force on the Microsoft side.
The end of the console war
The Halo saga, often credited with paving Microsoft’s path in the video game market, contributed to the success of the first Xbox against giants Nintendo and Sony. Since then, the Redmond firm has expanded its influence, even buying Activision Blizzard, creator of Obligationsfor 69 billion dollars. But despite this empire, it still struggles to compete in the field of sales: the PlayStation 5 sells more than twice as much as the Xbox Series S/X, while the Switch plays its own untouchable game.
Instead of clinging to the logic of exclusivity, Microsoft is now focusing on openness: making its games accessible on all screens, PCs, tablets, mobiles or ROG Ally portable consoles, and promoting its Game Pass, a subscription to a “Netflix-style video game.”
Trump in the operation?
But the surprise does not stop there: the White House published an AI-generated image depicting Donald Trump as Master Chief, the iconic hero of the license with 81 million copies sold worldwide, saluting in front of an American flag… with forty stars instead of fifty. A strange image, viral and already subject to all interpretations.
Some see it as a clumsy attempt to seduce the gaming community, others as true political will. In a few hours, the video surpassed nine million views, also relaunching the debate on the use of artificial intelligence in political communication and on the increasingly blurred border between propaganda and pop culture.
This is not the first time for Trump, already portrayed by AI as the Pope, Superman or Jedi from Star Wars. But this time, the nod to Halo comes at a key moment for the industry, where video games are also becoming a field of cultural and political influence. Note a paradox: in American pop culture, the hero is not supposed to be the one who destroys the White House…
Source: BFM TV
