Halo 2 remake only if we can 'nail' mutiplayer feature, says XBox boss

Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer, speaking to Imagine Games Network at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week, touched upon the subject of what would be the most important feature if a Halo 2 Anniversary release for Xbox One were to hypothetically happen.

“In this fictitious world where that game existed,” he began, smiling, “it’s an easy answer: it has to be just the multiplayer experience that we all found in that first Halo 2 game. If you think about what happened in the franchise and what were the hallmark moments – when did duel wielding come in, when did another playable character that wasn’t Master Chief come in?

“All the things that you and I know about the evolution of the franchise, if you’re going to say one thing about Halo 2, you’re going to talk about real multiplayer. I think you just have to nail that in just such a fundamentally core way. Frankly [we'd have to do it] probably better than we did with Halo 1 Anniversary. I thought the multiplayer in Halo 1 Anniversary was good, but Halo 1 never had multiplayer in the truest sense, so it always was going to be something different.

“If there were something called Halo 2 Anniversary,” he concluded, “I think the multiplayer would have to be fantastic.”

There have been rumours abuzz about a Halo 2 anniversary release. And it is not just because the 10-year anniversary of the game’s original November 9, 2004 release is approaching.

There was an insider leak which allegedly outed the game and there was a subsequent confirmation of the same in an interview with Master Chief voice actor Steve Downes.