Gearbox making Halo 4?

Gearbox Software is no stranger to high profile games, particularly those of the shooter variety. The company behind the Brothers in Arms series has been hinting for a while now that they’re working on something big, something huge, something so mind-blowing if they dared speak its name we would all prostrate ourselves and weep uncontrollably for weeks. The only problem is that we had no idea what this project was, until now.

According to Joystiq, who is in turn relying on the spies at OXM, the new double-secret game coming from Gearbox is none other than Halo 4, the next true sequel in the franchise. Furthermore, this latest edition of Master Chief’s saga would be a launch title for the next Xbox, meaning that if the game faces a normal development schedule then we should be expecting Microsoft’s next console to drop sometime in 2012.

So how realistic is this one? Gearbox is one of the preeminent FPS developers in the industry, so the idea of them doing a Halo game is completely reasonable. Also, Randy Pitchford, the head of the studio, is directing this game personally, and he has gone on record saying that he "can’t oversell this one." With all that in mind, this seems like a nearly done deal; we’ll go ahead and wait for official confirmation, but in the meantime, you can go ahead and pencil Halo 4 into your calendars for the same time as Microsoft’s new console.

TGR Verdict: Very Likely