Microsoft today released a video detailing Spartan Companies in Halo 5: Guardians.
Spartan Companies essentially function as clans or guilds would in other multiplayer games. In fact, Halo 2 had support for clans and even a dedicated multiplayer playlist for it. Since then, in-game clan support has been missing from new iterations on the Halo franchise. Subsequent Halo games after Halo 2 went as far as including a Service Tag system for players to be able to associate themselves under a common moniker.
It appears that with Spartan Companies in Halo 5: Guardians, players will be able to join or create a Spartan Company of their choosing, but may only be a member of one Spartan Company at any given time. Like Halo 2 clans, Spartan Companies may only hold 100 members at a time. While it does not appear that Halo 5: Guardians will include a multiplayer playlist specifically for Spartan Companies (à la clanmatches in Halo 2), 343 Industries seems to be making the out-of-game experience for Spartan Companies more robust through Halo Waypoint.
On Halo Waypoint, players will be able to customize their Spartan, manage their Spartan Company, chat with other members of their Company, and more. Spartan Companies will be able to have custom emblems, descriptions, banners, and mottos. As an added bonus, those who join or create a Spartan Company with at least four members will receive a REQ pack containing multiplayer goodies.
Halo 5: Guardians will be released on Oct. 27, exclusively on Xbox One. Today, in anticipation of the launch of Halo 5: Guardians, Microsoft updated the Minecraft: Halo Edition mash-up pack for Xbox One and Xbox 360 to include characters and skins from Halo 5: Guardians.