Halo is being replaced as Microsoft's flagship franchise, it looks like

Move along, Master Chief - at long last, Microsoft has a new favourite franchise.

Halo has been synonymous with Xbox for as long as the two have existed. With Halo: Combat Evolved releasing as a launch title for the original launch title back in 2001, Master Chief soon cemented himself as the console’s most recognisable face and Halo as the definitive Xbox exclusive franchise, and that’s not really changed since. However, as highlighted on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit (via GamesRadar+), Microsoft might be attempting to change that.

Take a look at some gameplay from the Xbox exclusive Starfield, which is set to release later this year.

According to a post on Imgur, Xbox Series X boxes in China have recently been changed to include a huge picture from Starfield on the back of them, replacing the cinematic shot of Master Chief from Halo Infinite that’s been there since the Series X launched. While it does make sense to have the boxes updated to represent a more up-to-date (and hopefully, better received) game, it still feels wrong to boot Master Chief from his pedestal, and certainly implies that Halo may have fallen out of favour with Microsoft.

It’s not too surprising if this is the case though given the mess that Halo Infinite has been. Last year, it was confirmed that the split-screen local co-op mode that everyone had been waiting for had been cancelled. Given that the devs had made a big point about that eventually being included…yeah, that didn’t go down well.

Back to Starfield though, and Bethesda’s upcoming RPG still doesn’t have a release date - it was supposed to launch (excuse the pun) in November last year, but was pushed back to some time in 2023. The game will apparently have more dialogue than Skyrim and Fallout 4 put together, and may include dozens of Skyrim-sized planets. It’s safe to say that it’s going to last us for some time when it does come out.

Xbox has announced that it’ll be presenting a special showcase for Starfield soon, so hopefully we’ll get a release date then. It’s not currently known when this will be aired, however.