Delaying as long as they could, the Forerunners activated the rings and disappeared. Exhausting all other strategies, the Forerunners conceived the Halo Array-ring-shaped megastructures and weapons of last resort that would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy to stop the Flood. The Flood, which spread through infestation of sentient life, overran much of the Milky Way Galaxy. In the distant past, a powerful race called the Forerunners fought an alien parasite known as the Flood. The official release of Halo Infinite, including the game's single-player campaign, is set for December 8, 2021. Halo Infinite, the sixth main installment, released the multiplayer version on November 15, 2021, which coincides with the franchise's 20th anniversary. These strong sales led to the franchise's expansion to other media the Halo Universe now spans multiple best-selling novels, graphic novels, comic books, short movies, animated movies and feature films, as well as other licensed products.

Halo has since become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. As of February 2021, that figure has risen to 81 million copies. By 2015, the games had sold over 65 million copies worldwide, with the games alone grossing almost $3.4 billion. Fueled by the success of Halo: Combat Evolved, and by marketing campaigns from publisher Microsoft, its sequels went on to record-breaking sales. This led to the term ' Halo killer' being used to describe console games that aspire, or are considered, to be better than Halo.

The games in the series are critically acclaimed, with the original considered the Xbox's ' killer app'.

Banks' Culture novels, and to a lesser degree to author Larry Niven's Ringworld concept. They are similar to the Orbitals in Iain M. The eponymous Halo Array are a group of immense, habitable and ring-shaped superweapons that were created by the Forerunners to destroy the Flood, but which the Covenant mistake for religious artifacts that, if activated, would transport them on a Great Journey to meet the Forerunners. The Covenant, led by their religious leaders called the Prophets, worship an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners, who perished while defeating the parasitic Flood. The original trilogy centers on an interstellar war between humanity and an alliance of aliens known as The Covenant. The central focus of the franchise builds on the experiences of Master Chief John-117, one of a group of supersoldiers code-named Spartans, and his artificial intelligence (AI) companion, Cortana. The franchise is currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. Halo is a military science fiction media franchise created by Bungie.

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