Microsoft talked about the upcoming real-time strategy Halo Wars 2 game during its E3 2016 press event. It confirmed the release date for this game and provided information about the open beta. Studio head at developer 343 Industries has now confirmed some more details about this title, such as the fact that Halo Wars 2 cross-platform play support won’t be available at launch.
343 Industries studio head Dan Ayoub told Eurogamer that cross-play is something that they were looking at during early development. They’ve been developing this game since 2014 and as they looked to their timing and design decisions, they focused on other things instead.
Ayoub says that cross-platform play is something that they are excited about potentially down the line and while they’re looking at that for the Halo franchise, they’re not focusing on that in the Halo Wars 2 timeframe.
The original Halo Wars game was released back in 2007, this is the successor, it’s set immediately after the events of Halo 5. It’s a real-time strategy game with a unique gameplay experience as players are placed in control of forces to take part in fast-paced real-time strategy battles.
An eight-day open beta for Halo Wars 2 is live now. Xbox One owners can download the beta now and take it for a spin before the beta period ends. Halo Wars 2 is going to be released in February 2017.