Halo 4: Spartan Ops content "mapped out for a few years," says 343
The roadmap related to Halo 4's new season-based narrative co-op mode has been laid out for a "few years" worth of content, 343's Frank O'Connor has said to The Guardian.
Spartans Ops will replace Firefight mode from ODST and Reach, instead giving players a co-op mode that will tie into the narrative and campaign surrounding Halo 4.
O'Connor has said if the mode is popular, it has enough content mapped out for the next few years.
"We wanted gamers to have a continual water cooler conversation that revolves around shared gameplay experiences," O'Connor said.
"So if you have four people working together to get through these missions and then watching and experiencing fiction at the same time ... it's not that you have to go and blow up a reactor and then you watch a cinematic sequence of a reactor blowing up; it's real characters with really significant universe-changing events going on in the narrative.
"We have the Spartan Ops story mapped out, at least loosely, for a few years. The first season is very rigid at this point and we know where this story goes. If it's successful, if people enjoy it, we have a narrative arc that can last for years, with a known beginning, a middle and an end."
The first season of Spartan Ops at least will be free to anyone who buys the game. Sounds like this season will be a case of experimentation for future games, according to O'Connor.
"Halo has long tradition of doing innovative things: Halo 2 had Xbox Live multiplayer; Halo 3 had social and sharing aspects. It's a tradition that goes back to the first game and we wanted to continue that spirit of experimentation.
"But this works, it's fun and it's testing really well. It's going to be interesting to see if those water cooler conversations emerge organically and naturally. We have our fingers crossed that they will."
Halo 4 launches on November 6 for Xbox 360. Watch for the 343 shooter to kick off tonight's Microsoft press conference from 5:30pm BST. Get all the details here.