Factions of Halo

Did You Know?

• Bungie acknowledged the influence of Larry Niven's Ringworld and Iain M. Banks' Culture series on the Halo rings.
• The Flood were influenced by the assimilating alien species in Christopher Rowley's The Vang.
• Martin O'Donnell used Gregorian chant for Halo's music, joining others to sing the vocal parts.

Story

Millions of years ago, the Precursors seeded the Milky Way with life. One of their created races, the Forerunners, attacked them and drove the Precursors near extinction. A few Precursors transformed into dust intended to regenerate, but the dust became defective, infecting organisms into a parasitic hivemind species called the Flood. Ancient humanity fought the Flood and clashed with the Forerunners.

After defeating humanity, the Forerunners reduced them to a primitive level while focusing on the Flood. The Forerunners built the Halo Array—ring-shaped megastructures that could destroy all sentient life to starve the Flood. The Array could be activated from the Ark, a repository of life outside the Halos' range. The Array was activated, ending the Flood, and surviving Forerunners reseeded life and left the galaxy.

Nearly a hundred thousand years later, in the 26th century, humanity under the Unified Earth Government and United Nations Space Command colonizes many worlds using slipspace travel. Tensions with colonies spark violence. In 2525, human worlds are attacked by the Covenant, a theocratic alien alliance that declares humanity an affront to the Forerunners. The Covenant's superior technology and numbers prove decisive. After the Covenant invades Reach in 2552, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 remains one of the few Spartan-IIs.

Game series

Bungie was founded in 1991 by Alex Seropian and partnered with programmer Jason Jones. Focusing on the Mac game market, Bungie became a preeminent developer, releasing Myth and Marathon. In 1997, Bungie began development on a new game with code names 'Monkey Nuts' and later 'Blam!'. It was conceived as a science fiction real-time strategy game set on a hollowed-out world called Solipsis, which became a ringworld called 'Halo'. As the team experimented with vehicles and realistic physics, they moved the camera closer and shifted to a third-person shooter. Halo was announced on July 21, 1999, at the Macworld Conference & Expo, with the title finalized only days before.

Other media

The Halo franchise includes bestselling novels, graphic novels, and licensed products. Joyride Studios produced Halo and Halo 2 action figures, while McFarlane Toys made Halo 3 poseable figures that became top-sellers in 2007 and 2008. MEGA Bloks partnered with Microsoft for Halo-themed toys. Eric Nylund wrote Halo: The Fall of Reach in seven weeks, published in October 2001, and later wrote First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx.

William C. Dietz novelized the game as Halo: The Flood in 2003. Other novelists include Joseph Staten, Tobias S. Buckell, Karen Traviss, Greg Bear, Matt Forbeck, John Shirley, Troy Denning, Cassandra Rose Clarke, and Kelly Gay. Short story collections Halo: Evolutions and Halo: Fractures were released. Marvel Comics published The Halo Graphic Novel in 2006 and several series, including Halo: Uprising by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, Halo: Helljumper by Peter David, and Halo: Blood Line by Fred Van Lente. Dark Horse Comics produced Halo: Initiation in 2013 and Halo: Escalation, an ongoing series from 2013 to 2015.

Legacy

By 2021, Halo game sales topped 81 million copies, generating $6 billion in franchise revenue, with $1.8 billion from non-game merchandise. Variety compared Halo to Star Wars. Its theme music and Master Chief are iconic gaming figures and key Xbox mascots. Halo characters and elements have crossed into titles like Dead or Alive, Guitar Hero, Killer Instinct, Forza, and Fortnite. The series transformed console first-person shooters and was a crucial early success for Xbox, serving as its killer app. Halo 2’s launch was called a major U.S. cultural event, reshaping the gaming landscape and emphasizing shared social experiences.