Starting the Fight

It may not feel like it now, but Halo was an unlikely success story full of twists and turns. An independent studio working on a real-time strategy game in Chicago was thrust into the spotlight when it was bought by Microsoft, completely changing the game it was working on multiple times en route to becoming one of the most iconic gaming properties in the medium’s history. And now, 25 years later, the reverberations are still felt throughout the games industry.

Halo: Combat Evolved ushered in a new era for both the first-person shooter genre and gaming as a whole, helping to launch Xbox, establish Bungie as one of the most beloved studios of the 21st century, and finally demonstrate that console first-person shooters can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their PC counterparts. With Halo: Combat Evolved turning 25 and its campaign receiving a modern remake this summer, we spoke to several important figures in Halo’s history to learn how Bungie and Xbox blazed trails and changed the course of gaming history.

Halo: Combat Evolved

Landing Zone