6. The Days Of Numbered Games Are... Well, Numbered
It seems Halo 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5: Guardians are already out of fashion over at 343 Industries, which is remarkable as Halo 5: Guardians doesn't even have a confirmed release date yet. Apparently, Studio Head Bonnie Ross is not a fan of the numbered iteration style of gaming naming conventions. At a closed door session with Official Xbox Magazine Ross revealed the reason for the titular addendum "Guardians" which no other Halo release has had before. Bonnie Ross is quoted as saying, "One of the reasons we're looking at Guardians - at some point we want to stop numbering, right, so we're looking at, especially on One, if I had my we wouldn't have called Halo 4 "Halo 4". We really look at that as the start of where he's going, going forward. It's just that we're a new team and that's how fans look at it." Bonnie Ross goes on to confirm that adding "Guardians" to the title of Halo 5 is an attempt to get fans on side as the franchise moves away from serialised numerical releases. "With Halo 5: Guardians we're trying to give ourselves permission, hopefully get the fans to give us permission - at some point we need to drop that number. And still let you know that there's a big story coming. It would still be a Master Chief story. I just don't want us to get to, like, Halo 17. We're not Final Fantasy, we can't do it."
With Halo Wars, Halo: Spartan Assault, Halo Legends and Halo: Forward Unto Dawn already out in the world, perhaps this isn't as big of a move as Ross is expecting, but clearly 343 Industries isn't ready to make the leap just yet.
