Xbox Boss Wants the Halo Show to Reach the Same Heights as HBO's The Last of Us
Three episodes in, HBO's The Last of Us has clearly struck a chord with viewers, including Xbox boss Phil Spencer. In a new interview with IGN, Spencer called the series "fantastic," and praised the involvement of creator Neil Druckmann. Critical reception to Paramount's Halo series was a bit mixed when it debuted last year, with many Xbox fans taking issue with the show's creative liberties. IGN asked Spencer if he hopes that the success of The Last of Us can help inspire Halo's showrunners to achieve similar heights.
"I want the best for everything that we work on, Halo television series included. I think there's some differences there, but I don't think that the point of the question of, 'Hey, Last of Us is out there, setting an incredibly high bar. Should we all aspire to reach that same bar with the work that we do in television?' Absolutely. I could say the same thing in video games," replied Spencer.
Halo was a launch title for the original Xbox, and the franchise has become one of the most important for Xbox over the last 21 years. Earlier games in the series were developed by Bungie, but are now handled by 343 Industries. Like The Last of Us, the Halo TV series features the close involvement of the game's developers; in the case of Halo, Kiki Wolfkill served as a producer on the first season.
While Halo might not have reached the same critical heights as The Last of Us, the show's first season did find a lot of success. Halo has been Paramount+'s second biggest original series, overperforming expectations in multiple markets. It remains to be seen whether the second season can continue that success, but it's easy to see how a higher bar has now been set by PlayStation's HBO adaptation. Whether or not Halo can clear that bar now remains to be seen!
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