Let's get one thing straight – I'm a Halo stan. A very loyal, but very tired Halo stan. Seeing the incredible slate of games that Xbox has currently is truly amazing, the brand is undisputedly thriving. And yes, there are clear questions about its future in hardware and it's long term strategy, but if nothing else, 2025 has belonged to Xbox Games Studio, and will continue that way with the plethora of games also announced at yesterday's showcase. Despite the amazing energy and awesome games, Halo fans can't help but feel very disappointed after Xbox's Showcase.

The ending to the showcase was heartbreaking for some, if not most, loyal Xbox and Halo fans. While most are assuming that the "classic that's been with us since the beginning" that Phil Spencer alluded to in his brief speech is Halo, it didn't get a literal mention (the lowest of lowest hanging fruit), or a screenshot, or teaser, or trailer. Halo is a shadow of it's former self, there's no denying that, despite the recent quality of Halo Infinite. But Xbox's flagship franchise has been through so much and the core Halo fans that still hang on are exhausted.

Last year, we got a tiny spark. With the announcement of Halo Studios, we saw what looks like a Halo CE remaster that will be in Unreal 5. So, Halo's future is assured, the next game is on it's way, and presumably the sequel to Infinite is also somewhere in the pipeline. Fast forward to this year's showcase, and it doesn't even get a mention? Trust me, I am not naive enough to think that the game is in a good enough place to announce, or that Xbox would spoil whatever plans they clearly have for the 25th anniversary of the original game. But to not even say the word Halo, not even show a screenshot of it, is doing the franchise a major disservice. There should be absolutely no reason why Halo isn't represented on that graphic of Xbox Studios games that Klobrille shared. At this point the franchise is trying to thrive despite what the previous iteration of the studio (343) and now Xbox are doing. Gears gets a mention (plus a remaster dropping this year), Forza gets a mention, and Call of Duty takes the prized slot at the end of the showcase. Again, I'm not surprised, the Activision purchase obviously means that the COD franchise is now at the heart of Xbox too. It's just that at this point, Halo fans have been beyond patient, and what little trust we have left is being tested.

As we sit here now, we don't know what the scope of the 25th anniversary of Halo CE will be. Who knows, they might go all out, have a tremendous game in place, multiple announcements after that, link up whatever Halo 7 will be with it, and heck let's throw in some spin-off announcements in there just to really make this sound incredible. But that's just it, that's all conjecture, hopium, copium, whatever you want to call it – there's nothing in reality to base those assumptions off of, and that's why even mentioning the name would go such a long way. There's so much potential in a remaster, but also so many opportunities to mess up. There's so much potential to Halo now being made in Unreal 5, but can this new studio actually capitalize on it? There's still so much potential left in the Halo franchise, but will it get a clean enough launch, with enough content, to grow the fan base and service the loyalists? History is not on our side unfortunately.

This moment hurts because Halo deserves to be right up there along with the other tremendous games Xbox has on their slate right now, because Halo has often carried Xbox's offerings over the course of the franchise. Halo just needs a fraction of the love and support from its developer and publisher that its faithful fans show it in order to reclaim its status in the gaming world. This isn't the time to overthink it, subvert what people expect, play the long game because Halo has been around for so long. The franchise doesn't have that luxury any more, as its currently loosing an entire generation of players.

Show us, with your actions Xbox, that Halo is on your mind. It is not obvious at this point!