New Halo games coming every year from now on?

Halo fans looking to get new titles might not have to wait too long in the coming years.

Microsoft Game Studios Vice President Phil Spencer said in a recent interview with IGN that the company plans to increase the frequency with which new Halo games hit store shelves.

"There's no explicit strategy that says we're to ship a Halo game every year," Spencer told the publication. "I will say I think one Halo game every three years, which was kind of our old cadence, is probably not frequent enough."

Spencer indicated that by waiting so long to release a major update to the franchise, the company could hurt overall engagement. He told IGN that Microsoft is trying to achieve "a more persistent Halo engagement for customers and not go dark for two years."

Spencer was quick to point out that Microsoft won't necessarily release a new Halo game each year, but he said that the company wants to provide gamers with "an ongoing relationship" with the franchise.

Several Halo games have come out in the past couple years. Real-time strategy title Halo Wars hit store shelves in February 2009. It was followed by the release of Halo 3: ODST in September 2009. Just last week, Halo: Reach hit store shelves. So it seems that Microsoft has already started its annual strategy and plans to extend it going forward.

But it's getting consumers to sign on to Microsoft's strategy that the company could have trouble with. As Spencer pointed out, he "used to look at annual releases of non-sports games as people trying to milk me." He's undoubtedly not alone. And selling a new Halo game each year to those who have the same feelings could be Microsoft's greatest challenge as it continues to release new Halo titles.