One of the things that makes the Halo universe so rich is the wide assortment of novels, comics, and short series that have added to the lore of the franchise. Now, the artist behind the cover of the most recent Halo novel is joining developer 343 Industries to help promote the upcoming Halo Infinite.
The Halo universe has long been supplemented with additional media outside of the franchise’s mainline video games. The first Halo novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach, was published just before the release of Halo: Combat Evolved, allowing early fans to contextualize the universe they were about to enter. The trend has continued ever since, with novels such as Halo: First Strike and Halo: Contact Harvest filling in the gaps between major video game releases. Now, the artist behind the cover of the latest Halo novel, Halo: Point of Light, is joining 343 Industries, though he won’t be creating book covers.
William “Pixelflare” Cameron is joining 343 Industries’ Xbox marketing team, where he will help promote the future of the franchise, starting with Halo Infinite. Halo fans may already be familiar with Cameron’s work, as he has created impressive fan art depicting the Master Chief, Arbiter, and other iconic Halo characters and locations. Fans can visit Cameron’s stunning ArtStation Portfolio to view more of his amazing artwork.
A few 343 and Xbox employees have already congratulated Cameron on joining the team, including community manager John Junyszek, who said, “100% deserved! Welcome to the team, Will. I'm looking forward to working with you more closely.”
Halo: Point of Light was published on March 2 and tells the story of Rion Forge and the crew of her ship, the Ace of Spades. After encountering an ancient being with knowledge of a dire threat to the Halo universe, Rion and her team set out to uncover centuries-old secrets and assist their new companion with his personal mission. The story was written by Kelly Gray and is the sequel to 2019’s Halo: Renegades, which was also written by Gray.
Developer 343 has been busy beefing up its roster of artists since delaying Halo Infinite last year. It reportedly enlisted the help of Gears of War developer The Coalition to assist with finalizing Halo Infinite’s art and level design. Halo Infinite is expected to be a huge game with tons of maps, so it makes sense that 343 would want to have enough hands were on deck to ensure the title meets the expectations of fans. However, Cameron will not be tasked with level design, and will instead focus on creating marketing material for the franchise.
Halo Infinite will release in 2021 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: ArtStation