Halo is a military science fiction media franchise. The franchise is currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. Primarily taking place in the 26th century, the franchise centers on conflict between humanity and a variety of alien species. The artifacts of a long-disappeared race, the Forerunners, play a key role; the eponymous Halo Array are immense, habitable and ring-shaped superweapons that were created by the Forerunners to destroy the parasitic Flood, but which the alien Covenant mistake for religious artifacts of transcendence. The series launched with the first-person shooter video game Halo: Combat Evolved and its tie-in novel, The Fall of Reach in 2001. The latest main game, Halo Infinite, was released in 2021.
