Famous Xbox franchise turned TV show, Halo, is now available to watch on Netflix in some global markets, but only Season 1. It first showed up a couple of weeks ago in the Coming Soon list, but March 1 marks the show’s debut outside of the Paramount+ streaming service.
Halo has, sadly, underwhelmed with its reception, and has subsequently been dropped by Paramount for any further seasons. I haven’t yet seen it myself, because I don’t subscribe to Paramount+, but there seem to be conflicting opinions on it.
There are plenty of folks who enjoyed it, but long-time, devoted Halo fans, aren’t always so complimentary about it. And apparently Master Chief doesn’t wear his helmet enough. I guess that’s fair, after all, the Master Chief suit is one of the most iconic and recognizable in all of gaming.
Halo isn’t outright moving to Netflix at this time, and so far as we know, it hasn’t been picked up by the streaming giant for any future seasons. At least, not yet, anyway. It also won’t be leaving Paramount+, so if you subscribe to that, you’ll still be able to watch it there.
A report from What’s on Netflix detailed that Halo is available in select markets in South America, Australia and New Zealand, the UK and markets across mainland Europe.
Regardless of press or public reviews of Halo, there’s one thing I’m fairly certain of; It launched on the wrong platform. Simply put, if you want your show to be a success, especially carrying the weight of a franchise like Halo, it needs to be on Netflix or Prime Video.
Everyone wants a piece of the pie these days, which has led to a streaming service for just about every major provider. But above all others, Netflix remains the market leader, and Prime Video is certainly right up there as well. Why is that of note? Xbox’s other recent TV show, Fallout, calls Prime Video its home, and it has been an incredible success.
Quality of the two shows aside, Fallout was immediately better placed for success simply for having a greater chance of hitting eyeballs. Paramount+ (at last report) had 72 million subscribers, where Prime Video boasts over 200 million, and Netflix over 300 million.
It’s a simple numbers game. Halo now has the advantage of being seen by a portion of that 300+ million subscriber base, and more besides if it ever joins the U.S. catalog. Netflix also has form for picking up shows cancelled by other networks and finishing them, as with titles such as Manifest and Designated Survivor.
Who knows what could happen.
