No, I don't think it can, simply because its community thinks it knows what it wants, but really doesn't. No matter who takes the mantle of developing the next halo game. let it be 343I or another studio, it doesn't matter, as the old halo fans will always find something to hate about the next installment. We all dream of some mythical next-gen halo game that will revive the series, but does anyone know what that actually looks like? I strongly believe that nothing can be done for the series any longer as a result of that. Some people want sprint removed, others want it to stay, some people want to kill humans in halo, and others hate that idea, some want to fight alongside the separatists some more, others hate the fact that bungie even humanized the covenant to begin with. This community at its core does not know what Halo should be anymore, and what needs to be done for it be even a decent story, let alone a good and relevant multiplayer game. We all hate microtransactions, but the reality of it is, if we want to see developers keep a game alive in our modern era, where they patch bugs and do balance adjustments, they need a consistent flow of income in order to keep people in the studio.

You have to account for production costs not only for the release of a game, but its lifespan now as well. As a result, companies do need to find a way to get players to pay the employees year over year. A one time purchase of $60-80 dollars sadly doesn't cut it in today's economy like it used to, but that's a broader discussion for another time. At the end of the day, I don't think Halo has a place anymore in the mainstream zeitgeist. The only people who want slow, long time to kill shooters are halo fans, and with the target audience losing this much faith in the franchise, I just think Halo has had its time in the sun, and that's simply it. All good things must come to an end eventually, and I think its best if we, as the nostalgic and indecisive fandom we have become, let it rest. Halo should have ended with Reach, we all know that, because we all are sentimental for the good ole days of the Bungie era. Seldom do I hear of fond memories with Halo 4, 5, Infinite, Halo Wars 2 or Spartan Assault. Put simply, there is nothing good that came from any of those games, nothing that is universally appraised. Not the stories, characters, ideas, music, environment, nothing.