343 Industries has rebranded itself as Halo Studios as it shifts focus to new Halo projects powered by Unreal Engine 5.
It’s a new day for the Halo IP and its developer, 343 Industries. Following more than a year of rumors, layoffs, and general confusion surrounding the IP’s future, 343 Industries has confirmed that the future of the franchise will be built on Unreal Engine 5. As part of that change, 343 Industries is leaving behind its old name and embracing a new one, Halo Studios, and altering its technology, structure, processes, and culture to make developing Halo games a different experience.
Review: Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite concludes a good run of 2021 Microsoft exclusives and it stands up to the best of what the Halo series has offered over its run.
Bye bye Slipspace, Hello Unreal
Embracing a new future for Halo means letting go of the past. The proprietary Slipspace Engine that poweredHalo Infiniteis gone. In its place is Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5. According to Halo Studios, the decision was ultimately made due to Slipspace’s technical difficulties and the fact that the studio had to dedicate numerous resources to maintaining the engine. With the switch to Unreal 5, Halo Studios and its developers can focus solely on developing great games. They’re now a pure game development studio rather than a development and technology studio.
“One of the primary things we’re interested in is growing and expanding our world so players have more to interact with and more to experience. Nanite and Lumen [Unreal’s rendering and lighting technologies] offer us an opportunity to do that in a way that the industry hasn’t seen before. As artists, it’s incredibly exciting to do that work.”
The switch to Unreal 5 will not only help the studio internally (i.e. hiring and retaining talent), but also the gamers. With Unreal 5 specifically crafted to deliver content at an increased pace, Halo Studios will be available to push out more regular content and updates for their games. To give players a taste of what a Halo game built in Unreal 5 can look like, the studio built Project Foundry as a foundation for all future Halo titles.
A Clean Break with an Eye Towards the Future
343 Industries' stewardship of the Halo franchise has been complicated. Despite some major wins like Halo 5’s multiplayer and Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer, 343’s handling of other aspects of the franchise has been heavily criticized. The Call of Duty-ization ofHalo 4,Halo 5’s story, Halo Infinite’s graphics, and especiallyThe Master Chief’s Collection’sbotched launch come to mind. The rebrand allows Halo Studios to turn the page and focus on the future.
343 Industries is leaving behind its old name and embracing a new one, Halo Studios
According to the studio, there are several Halo projects currently in development. Though none have been confirmed,The Verge’s Tom Warren, who accurately predicted the jump to Unreal 5 earlier this year, stated that a new Halo: Combat Evolved remaster is in the works. Even more wild is that the remaster could release on PS5, something that the multiplatform Unreal 5 supports. We’ll let you know should Halo Studios and Xbox Game Studios make any announcements regarding Halo.
