Microsoft releases Halo 5: Guardians action-packed opening cinematic

Microsoft and 343 Industries have released the opening cinematic for Halo 5: Guardians.

Halo 5 is Microsoft’s biggest effort yet to lure gamers to the Xbox One video game console, which still trails behind Sony’s PlayStation 4 in worldwide sales. Since 2001, the Halo series has sold more than 60 million units, generating billions of dollars in revenue. And it isn’t running out of steam yet.

Tonight, Microsoft released the opening cinematic, which starts out with Spartan Jameson Locke and his Fireteam Osiris. They’re called upon by the UNSC to recover a high-value target, Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, the creator of the Spartan warrior program. She’s in custody and claims to have information on some recent atrocities. The team descends skydiving-style on a planet with a hot landing zone full of Covenant and Promethean enemies. Microsoft describes the scene as the start “to the most ambitious, robust, and epic Halo campaign experience yet.”

Feast your eyes on this action. Halo 5 comes out on the Xbox One video game console on October 27.

The cinematic was directed by 343 Industries and created in collaboration with some of the video game industry’s leading creative talent, such as Axis Animation, Profile Studios, and Warner Bros.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.