Was it a conscious decision by Bungie to not kill off Masterchief at the end of Halo 3 so that 343 could take the reigns and continue using him? Or did 343 just take what they were given and devise a way to make it so that they wouldn't need a new character?

Spoilers* 
 
They never killed him off. It was always this way. If you beat it on Legendary you get the extra scene of the chief floating in space. 

The former.

Bungie probably didn't have any say either way.  It was a conscious decision by Microsoft to not let Bungie kill off Master Chief I'm sure.

I'm just happy to continue the Halo franchise with Master Chief and Cortana. 

Spoilers*  They never killed him off. It was always this way. If you beat it on Legendary you get the extra scene of the chief floating in space. 

When they said "Here's a new xbox trilogy" I was expecting a new IP, but instead we got HALO 4....

Even if they did kill him they could have probably bought him back as a Cortana style A.I. or something.

I never understood the appeal of Master Chief as a character.
 
What exactly makes him so special? Could they really not think of anything better to do with the franchise? It's actually a pretty interesting universe.

They weren't going to kill a character that's worth millions of dollars, anyway it was Microsoft's decision not Bungie's.

I remember hearing when they made reach the original idea (or at least one direction they were thinking about taking) was to continue on from the legendary ending of Halo 3, so I think Bungie had some idea of where they would have taken it if they went down that path so hopefully 343 will develop on that idea whatever that was for 4,

I'd like to see them dig deeper into the Forerunners. Perhaps they still exist out there after all. =O

@snetErz said:

I'd like to see them dig deeper into the Forerunners. Perhaps they still exist out there after all. =O

I'm hoping that's what that huge portal/halo looking thing at the end was.

That's no planet... But really I hope to see what is beyond that opening.

I know that he didn't die, I just don't know if they let him live because they had a vision of where it would go or if he was alive and 343 needed him because a Halo game not by bungie is a hard enough sell that they needed Masterchief.

@CandiBunni: The reason why they keep re using him is cause it's not really a character, he's become a brand now. You see Master Chief you think "Halo". Microsoft aren't gonna just throw away a symbol as recognisable as Master Chief. And really I don't mind them using him again, the Halo games have never really been about compelling characters, more about large scale "plots" with really well engineered action.

The real reason he's still a character is because he's not really a character. 
 
Let me explain. Let's say they kill off Master Chief. What kind of character would the next game have? Obviously it'd have to be a strong tough military guy. That's basically all MC is. I'm not saying this as a bad thing, I'm saying it like it is.. Halo isn't exactly a game about depth of Character. Killing off MC would only mean they have to make a new character that's basically identical. This does nothing other than waste time and annoy fans who are into him. 

With the way they emphasized showing the planet at the end of the Legendary H3 ending, I'm gonna say yeah, this was in the cards.