The decision to release Halo 4 last year ultimately made it impossible to have a Halo title available for the Xbox One’s launch. The folks at 343 industries just wouldn’t have enough time to crank out a game for new hardware in such a short period.

“A couple of years ago we had the discussion of: ‘Should we do Halo at launch and not do Halo 4 last year?’” Microsoft’s Phil Spencer told Kotaku. “But I was committed to getting Halo 4 done last year, and there was no way we were going to turn around with 343 a full Halo game in a year. So that was the plan we set on. I feel good about that.”

It also came down to resources and having enough manpower to put together a new game.

“Unlike some franchises that manage through 1,000 people, Halo is 343 and that team obviously has tight control. They are our Halo team,” Spencer explained.

The Xbox executive went on to say that in order to create a full Halo game, 343 would’ve need at least two or three years, meaning the development process would’ve overlapped with Halo 4′s  timeline.

[Kotaku]