The announcement of new fictional content set in the Halo universe by 343 Industries drew a range of reactions, from disappointment to outright anger, regarding the relegation of key developments in the Halo story into novels instead of games. The studio announced the next chapter in their Waypoint Chronicle anthology series, as well as details on Kelly Gay’s upcoming novel Halo: Edge of Dawn. While many gamers look forward to exploring the Halo universe further through books, others could simply not believe that important story developments were put in novels instead of games.
The corporateflair-laden announcement came from the official Halo account in Twitter, completing it with sparkle emojis and links to their Spotlight blog post. However, scrolling through the replies reveals a community growing ever more frustrated with 343’s storytelling approach. One reply gave the boiling point a sarcastic hit, “Do yall have any halo GAMES, by chance?”
This is not a problem with just one book-it is a problem that has been bothering Halo fans for years. Most, if not all, of the responses emphasize the fact that big plot points keep unfolding in books and never in games. @Kuroi_Buster noted astutely that she would not have been made much from the events such as the destruction of the Infinity in Halo Infinite if she had not read The Rubicon Protocol novel. And @chanting_fox put the crux of the issue almost succinctly: “The problem with the books is that you NEED to read them to understand the stuff in the next game. That’s bullshit!”
The theory is that most of the anger has come in respect to the Halo Infinite campaign being accepted as having ended on a cliffhanger now purportedly possibly to be wrapped up by a book, not DLC or a sequel. @Lars0ny very well summarized: “Having Infinite’s campaign continue in a book is a mistake.” And @Jdog_4789 also lamented the idea of sick characters like Jega ‘Rdomnai being fulfilled in novels rather than the games themselves.
An engaging debate is going on in the replies about whether it is purely a budget/marketing decision or if technical limitations with the Slipspace engine have something to do with this line of split-storytelling. @Kuroi_Buster gave hope that since 343 is going to move to the Unreal Engine 5, maybe we’ll finally get important story moments actually in a game again, whereas @Alienatedpoet17 just laughed out loud, pointing out that 343 are doubling-down on that negative rep they’ve earned about putting major lore in books.
Not all of the witnesses are irate, though! Some gamers like @WattsSon are just happy that some kind of Halo content is coming out, though they rate the story for Infinite and plead with 343 to continue the story of Atriox. @NGU_TailoredMade really seemed excited for the new novel, too. But those voices were really scarce amid the uproar.
It opens up a much larger question-and that is how a franchise is supposed to handle expanded-universe content. Marvel manages this by making sure the movies can be understood on their own, while the comics just deepen their world further. But when the heaviest storylines are put in books, it becomes a barrier of entry to frustrate the casual fan. As @SpeedKomodo said, “Excited for the novel, not excited about the fact that again we get stuff in books that should be in the games.”
At the end of the day, 343 Industries finds itself on a very dicey land. Of course, the books do have an audience, and they’re probably cheaper to go on than a full-out game DLC. But when your most passionate gamers are literally begging you for more game content while you are out there announcing another novel, maybe they should finally listen. Hopefully, the move to Unreal Engine 5 will mean more Halo stories end up where they should have been, on our screens rather than just down in books.
