Xbox boss 'confident' Halo 5 will have smooth launch

The release of Xbox One's Halo: The Master Chief Collection last fall did not go well. It suffered from widespread connection issues that caused headaches for many players. Now, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has spoken out to say he is "confident" Halo 5: Guardians won't suffer the same fate.

As part of a wide-ranging interview, Spencer also admits that the issues with The Master Chief Collection were tough to take for the team at 343 Industries.

"I know that of all of our teams, no team at their core feels the need to hit a great launch from a multiplayer and connection issues more than 343," he explained. "That team took the issues around the launch of Master Chief Collection, it kind of hit them in the heart, because it's Halo Nation. It's the people who love these past Halo games."

With Halo 5, however, Spencer said every time he visits the team at 343, the first thing they want to talk about is how the game's online functionality is coming together.

"No team is focused on it more than 343," he said. "The planning and process teams have gone through has been great, and I'm confident in how it will launch based on the results that we're seeing."

Of course, with online games, some issues will always happen. But Spencer went on to say that Microsoft's various internal teams have learned from The Master Chief Collection's problems and the company's entire portfolio should benefit as a result.

"Frankly, if I look at how Rare came out (with Rare Replay) and Gears (Ultimate Edition) came out, and now Forza, I feel good that the teams all up have taken the lessons of last holiday of some teams missing the bar that they wanted to hit," Spencer said. "You're always going to have issues here and there, and you kind of manage through it, but by-and-large, those releases have gone well. It's really nice to see that the teams have taken an increased focus on making sure that launch goes extremely well for our customers."

Also in our interview, Spencer says he expects Halo will still be around in 2035, enjoying a long lifespan not unlike Star Wars and Spider-Man. Read the entire interview here.

GameSpot recently played a portion of Halo 5's campaign. Watch some videos and get our thoughts here.