Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Game Studios, said in an interview with GamesIndustry.com that there are at least three games in the Halo universe being developed. Good news for Halo fans.
He didn't go into details on what those games were, but Halo junkies can breathe a sigh of relief for now.
Spencer said, "Well, there's more than one team building Halo games right now. There are more than two or three teams building Halo things right now. Some of them we will own, some of them we won't. It's never been, for me, about who you own or don't own - it's about working with the best creative talent in the industry."
Spencer also talked a bit about the Age of Empires strategy-action game franchise. Microsoft recently decided to close down the doors of Ensemble Studios, the developers behind the Ages games, but reassured fans of the series that Age of Empires will continue to be produced.
"First I'll start off by talking about the Age franchise, and I just want to reiterate that the franchise remains very important to us, something that is a pillar of our support of Windows.
"The first three iterations of the game sold millions and millions of units and got us a lot of customers, and that's great - the fans of that franchise and the online connection that we continue to have with those customers is an important part of running MGS - and something that we don't expect to drop."
The Age series included the games Age of Empires, Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, Age of Empires III, Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, and Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties.
Spin offs from the game included Age of Mythology, Age of Mythology: The Titans, and Age of Empires: The Age of Kings.
The franchise has sold very well for Microsoft and has been a staple of strategy gamers since 1997 when the first Age of Empires game was released.
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Good to hear. Honestly I don't give a f*** about Halo, but I love the AoE franchise :D (I got them all (legally) except Warchiefs and the spin offs).
I used to play age of empires 1 and 2 all day long before I discovered FPS games.
Ditto.
Played AOE 2 and fell in love.
By th way if you own a PocketPC Windows Mobile 2003 device there's a port of Age Of Empires 1 gold.
It's a full port, just like the PC version. It has all the videos, missions, campaigns, etc. You can even copy your saved games/custom maps from a PC(without converting) proof that it's the same game.
The only features absent are multiplayer and the level creator.
It's the only reason I miss my iPaq.