Halo 2 Anniversary Edition on the horizon

A next generation version of Halo 2 is planned for release this year according to the voice actor for the series protagonist Master Chief.

Talking to Gamezone, Steve Downes mentioned that the anniversary edition of Halo 2 is scheduled for 2014, but that Halo 5 is not expected until 2015. A Microsoft spokesperson subsequently confirmed with Polygon that an entry to the Halo series will be released in 2014, but would not share anything further than that.

Previous comments from Microsoft Studios corporate vice-president Phil Spencer around 2013's E3 exhibition also suggest that the next Halo game to be released on the Xbox One will not be Halo 5 but will be a 'legitimate' entry to the series as opposed to a spin off.

An Xbox One instalment to the Halo series seems all but inevitable and it was originally teased during E3 2013 with series developer 343 Industries talking about its 60 fps technology and that it would take advantage of Microsoft's cloud infrastructure.

This year marks Halo 2's ten year anniversary. The Xbox original is held up by many gamers as the game that worked the hardest to define the fledgling Xbox Live multiplayer platform at the time.

Halo 2 was developed by Bungie before the series was handed over to 343 Industries and Downes did not confirm which developer had been working on the title. Bungie has however most recently been working on Destiny which is due for a September release.

The original Halo was released in 2001 and was granted an anniversary edition in 2011. 343 Industries took over work on the series with Halo 4 in 2012 kicking off a new Halo series dubbed the Reclaimer Saga.