Halo 5: Guardians now has an official release date of 27 October 2015.
The release date was unveiled along with two new live action trailers which controversially show the game's lead character Master Chief as a potential villain.
Premiered during an episode of 'The Walking Dead' the trailer is in fact one of two, showing either the Master Chief as the hero or the villain.
The game, made by 343 Industries, will be the first Halo game to hit the next-gen Xbox One -- and it won't arrive until two years after the machine's launch.
In a press release Bonnie Ross at 343 Industries said that the launch of Halo on Xbox One "was an opportunity to think about what stories we wanted to tell, how to tell them, and how best to push the Halo franchise to showcase the platform".
"In the past, Halo games have pushed the Xbox forward, showcasing the console and its ecosystem in entertaining and innovative ways. Making a Halo game that runs at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade, is non-trivial.
"It’s a task that we, at 343 Industries, are taking very seriously to ensure we deliver the Halo game that fans deserve, and a game that is built from the ground up for Xbox One."
She went on to say that there will be more news on Halo at E3 this year - and that fans won't have to wait until 2015 to play… something.
Here's the meat of the statement:
Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger effort than Halo 4. That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine. Certainly there are some core elements carried over from prior games, but we’ve invested a huge effort in retooling our tech to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware and ecosystem to create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen.
It’s a game that will hopefully demonstrate the talent, learnings and abilities of the 343 Industries team. A game that will incorporate the things we learned from Halo 4 about technology, aesthetics, performance and scale – and perhaps more importantly, understanding and embracing a community of gamers who love what lies at the heart of this game, and the limitless potential of the Halo universe.
And 2015 won’t simply be the year of Halo 5: Guardians, it will also be a year that offers us a unique opportunity. The opportunity to invite old friends and new audiences into that universe through the Halo television series, launched as a unique collaboration with Steven Spielberg and some of the finest creative minds in the business. A series that will stand alone, as well as complement and enrich the game experience. We’ll have more to share on the Halo television series as we near its projected fall 2015 release.