Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer won’t outright confirm that a Halo 2 Anniversary exists, but he will discuss what the game should be with a sly grin on his face. Speaking to IGN during the Game Developer’s Conference, Spencer emphasized the remake’s multiplayer, and how it needs to be just as revolutionary the second time around in order for the game to be a success.
"In this fictitious world where that game existed, it’s an easy answer: it has to be just the multiplayer experience that we all found in that first Halo 2 game,” he said when asked about the most important feature. “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.
So, it’s a real game, right? We probably won’t get the formal announcement until E3, but you can expect the remake to become available on your Xbox One sometime this year.
"If there were something called Halo 2 Anniversary," he added, "I think the multiplayer would have to be fantastic."