Halo 5, though a stunning story, wasn't everyone's cup of tea in large part to the glaring absense of one Master Chief. Following the announcement of Halo: Infinite, rumors have been swirling since the big reveal about what will and won't be present for the future of the franchise. The will it/won't it be truly "Halo 6" has also been up in the air but now all of the hum drum of speculation can be put to rest because we now have a resounding "yes" about this truly being the next step in the original story.

343's Jeff Easterling recently sat down during a Mixer live broadcast to discuss the future title. "It is Halo 6," he forcefully iterated. "You should just consider it Halo 6. Don't think of it as a weird prequel kind of thing. It's the next story. It's the next chapter in what is going on."

He also mentioned that the studio is "making changes to how we approach things," while also mentioning that the franchise and the company alike will be going in many unexpected directions.

This also lines up with a previous report back in may when Halo Community Manager Brian Jarrard took to Twitter to calm fan concerns over the future of the franchise. Though 343 Industries is working alongside the team behind the previously announced arcade game, they aren't taking point on the project so that they can focus on other ventures; Halo 6.

Jarrard took to social media to state, "PSA: Fireteam Raven has zero impact on the 343 development team which has already been working on the next console game. H:FR is built by an external arcade developer. Just like the Halo books or toys aren’t being created _instead of_ the next Halo game. Plenty to go around."

Though it should have been fairly obvious that they wanted to continue the franchise's narrative following the backlash, it has be been a few years since the previous installment. Halo 5: Guardians released back in 2015 to mixed reviews, and Halo 6 rumors have been ongoing since pretty much the fifth game went live. Pair that with the knowledge that all first party games are free for Xbox Game Pass members, it's easy to see why fans are getting caught up in the excitement.

Though we still don't have a release date, or even a premise at this point, at least we know that it's not canned, it's not pushed aside, and that the team will have something to share soon! As a huge Halo fan, it was the go to game when I was deployed, I can't wait to see where they choose to go next!

H/T GameSpot