When Halo Infinite was released in 2021, it came in two halves, a singleplayer part, and a standalone and free multiplayer component. The former offered incredible Halo action, but was soon forgotten due to all the troubles at 343 Industries.
The giant studio couldn't support the multiplayer component at all, which led to the singleplayer being completely de-prioritized and left behind. Only last year did the developers catch up with the multiplayer which finally became what it should have been all along, thanks to Forge, new maps and several great additions.
Now 343 Industries seems ready to experiment a bit, and in conjunction with the 2024 Halo World Championship, they revealed a rather surprising thing - a third-person mode that will be released in November. Initially it's all about Firefight, but Skybox Labs senior software engineer Colin Cove says they "also have the ability to do in PvP and control it in Forge". Previously, Halo has only transitioned to a third-person perspective when you were hauling a turret or driving vehicles, although unofficial solutions have offered this in the past.
Whether it will also be possible to play singleplayer in third-person in the future is unclear, but it seems that it will be used in more game modes so it is not completely impossible.
It is unclear why 343 Industries is focusing on this right now. It's not a requested feature, and perhaps the developers want to gauge interest in this to possibly include full support from the start in the next Halo? Considering that Fortnite is third-person, you'd imagine that's an audience they'd like to target.
Check out what the game mode looks like via the official Halo account on Instagram.