A new era of Halo officially kicked off on Monday night.
From Seattle to New York City to Hong Kong to London, thousands of passionate Halo fans gathered at events around the world to celebrate the launch of Halo 5: Guardians.
Inside the Microsoft Store at Seattle’s University Village, hundreds of gamers packed a high-energy room where the voice of the Master Chief (Steve Downes) and Cortana (Jen Taylor) signed autographs and met with attendees, along with several executives and employees from 343 Industries, the Microsoft-owned studio that developed Halo 5.
343 Industries head Bonnie Ross was also on hand, meeting with fans and celebrating her team’s accomplishment.
“This has been three years worth of long, hard work by the 343 team,” Ross told the crowd after thanking them for their support.
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Microsoft also hosted a six-hour live stream on YouTube that showed off exclusive gameplay reveals, celebrity appearances, footage from launch events, and more. Halo 5, exclusive to the Xbox One, went on sale Tuesday — those that attended launch events were able to snag the game a few hours early — and is available at multiple retailers or online via digital download.
Make sure to check out our review of Halo 5 here, and a look at the business implications of the game for Microsoft here.