by Microsoft revealed that “several” Halo games are currently being developed on Unreal Engine 5, with 343 Industries having rebranded as Halo Studios and shelving its own Slipspace Engine in favor of Epic Games’ product.
Chris Matthews, the art director at Halo Studios, explained on Xbox Wire that UE5 has certain capabilities that “would have taken enormous amounts of time and resources to try and replicate” in Slipspace. Not having to maintain and improve an engine alongside games will result in faster development speeds for the franchise, something Microsoft seems to be emphasizing – more content with shorter wait times is key.
“It’s not just about how long it takes to bring a game to market, but how long it takes for us to update the game, bring new content to players and adapt to what we see that our players want,” said Halo Studios COO Elizabeth. said van Wyck.
Halo Studios’ experiment with UE5, known internally as Project Foundry, is the source of the screenshots and clips shown to the public with this announcement. It’s worth noting that Foundry isn’t an upcoming Halo game, but rather a demonstration of capabilities. Halo Studios has apparently worked closely with Epic Games on the project to learn the ropes of UE5 and get the best results from the infrastructure.
“It’s fair to say that our intention is that the majority of what we showed at Foundry is expected to be used in projects we are building, or in future projects,” said studio head Pierre Hintze.
Still, the team was quick to emphasize that those brand new Halo games aren’t coming out anytime soon and that Halo Infinite, the current iteration of the franchise, will be supported with new content for the time being – it’s early days for the series’ new chapter.
However, the fact that Microsoft has now made all this information public should be taken as a good sign: it means that the engine change went well and that the restructuring of the way the studio works – which apparently included organizational changes that gave more authority to the developers themselves – is completed.
For now, Halo fans can enjoy Halo Infinite and its many player-made modes, like a Halo x Helldivers 2 mash-up.
