As Microsoft geared up for the launch of Halo 4, a senior director who works for the company which publishes the game has revealed that Halo 5 is already in the works for the next generation Xbox 720 console.

In an interview with the Seattle Times, Frank O'Connor, franchise development director of 343 Industries, responded to a question about the development of the next Halo game franchise.

"We've done as much prototyping and storytelling and the future arc of the universe as we have on technology. So we're definitely working on the future but in some ways it's technologically agnostic at this point," he said. "We definitely have a lot of smart people inside the studio and outside the studio thinking about future technology and future development for sure."

O'Connor acknowledged that the development of the next-generation console, a project which has been largely shrouded in mystery, is indeed taking shape.

Halo 4, launched November 6, is billed as the first in a new trilogy. It sees the return of Master Chief, the series main protagonist, battling a new enemy - the Forerunners - on a distant alien world called Requiem.

The game has been one of the most popular titles on the Xbox 360 console since its first ground-breaking iteration. The second two parts in the new trilogy, Halo 5 and Halo 6, are likely to make their way onto the new Xbox 720 console.

However, Microsoft has yet to announce the new console and various reports abound on the Internet as to what the 720 will look like.

Reputable blogger MS nerd, has speculated that the new Xbox, codenamed "loop", will use a modified Win9 core.

"It will use a Zune HD-like hardware platform - 'main' processor with multiple dedicated assistive cores for graphics, AI, physics, sound, networking, encryption and sensors," said the blogger. "It will be custom designed by Microsoft and two partners based on the ARM architecture. It will be cheaper than the 360, further enabling Kinect adoption. And it will be far smaller than the 360."

343 Industries isn't the first company rumored to be creating a game for the new console. Last year, Crytek, which makes the TimeSplitters franchise, said it was developing TimeSplitters4 for the next generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles.