New Concept Art Hints at Halo 5 Locales

The winds of change have been blowing through Halo developer 343 Industries, but with all the moving and shaking comes some good tidings. With the appointment of a new art director comes our first glimpse at one of the possible environments from Halo 5.

Over on Halo Waypoint, Josh Holmes talked about the big changes at 343 kicking off in 2014. Formerly the creative director, Holmes will be moving into the role of executive producer, where he'll oversee the internal development team. Sliding into Holmes' old role will be former LucasArts staffer Tim Longo. He previously worked on titles like Star Wars: Republic Commando and the unreleased Star Wars: First Assault. "His keen sense of vision, collaborative spirit and creative generosity have made him a terrific addition to the team," Holmes said.

One of the biggest changes was the loss of art director Kenneth Scott, who will be stepping down and moving with his family to California. While he'll still help out as a visual design consultant, 343's promoted Nicholas "Sparth" Bouvier from lead concept artist to Scott's former role. Holmes didn't have much to say about the move, and decided to let some of Bouvier's concept work speak for itself. The image above was teased as "a new location that features prominently in a little game project we’re tinkering with," and has all the hallmarks of that wonderfully clean sci-fi we've come to expect from the Halo universe.

Would it have been nicer to see this location rendered on the Xbox One? Maybe, but we shouldn't have long to wait as 343 and Microsoft have already promised the next Halo adventure will hit the next-gen console this year. For now, this concept art will have to hold us over. We can live with that.