OK, now we’re really confused about the story of Halo 5: Guardians

Earlier this week, Microsoft ran a TV commercial about the official announcement of Master Chief’s death. The hero of the Halo series had fallen, and the world was learning about it via loudspeakers.

Now Microsoft has released another commercial saying the official announcement was a lie and that Master Chief is alive. In fact, the death is a cover story for something much worse. Unofficially, Master Chief isn’t dead, but he’s not responding to orders. Spartan Locke, meanwhile, is part of the unofficial story, and his job is to hunt down the Master Chief, who is setting loose mysterious “things” against the humans.

“The only thing worse than losing a hero is watching him turn against us,” the narrator says. We’re confused. But Microsoft is trying to tease us to death so that we can’t wait to get Halo 5: Guardians when it goes on sale on October 27.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=105&v=hCP0GSB2A8E

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.