Halo 5 Launch TV Commercial Will Air During Sunday Night Football

With the release of Halo 5: Guardians closing in, Microsoft is ramping up its promotional efforts for the sci-fi shooter. Part of that drive is the game's "launch TV commercial," which will air this weekend during Sunday Night Football on NBC, Microsoft has announced.

Millions of people are expected to tune into this week's matchup between the the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions on September 27. In 2014, 30-second ad prices for Sunday Night Football cost more than $600,000, the priciest ad buy in all of television, according to this Variety report.

The fact that Microsoft referred to its Halo 5 football ad as a "launch TV commercial" suggests it's not the game's full launch trailer, but an asset created specifically for primetime TV. Presumably, the official launch trailer will come later, sometime closer to Halo 5's release on October 27.

Halo 5's ad this weekend will mark the second time a video game has been advertised during an NFL game on NBC in the past month. Activision got things started with a commercial for Destiny: The Taken King, featuring a famous Led Zeppelin song, that aired during the NFL season-opener earlier this month.

GameSpot recently played a portion of Halo 5's campaign. Watch some videos and get our thoughts here. You can also check out some new multiplayer footage in the video above.

In other Halo news, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says he's "confident" Halo 5's multiplayer will have a smooth launch. He also said he expects the Halo franchise will still be around in 2035, enjoying a long lifespan not unlike Star Wars and Spider-Man. In addition, Microsoft has confirmed that it's started work on Halo 6 and has an idea how Master Chief's story will come to an end, whenever that happens.