by Key Takeaways
- As announced during the 2024 Halo World Championship, 343 Industries is now Halo Studios.
- Not only that, but the team behind Halo is shifting from its Slipspace Engine to Unreal 5.
- That coincides with news of “multiple” Halo projects in the works, although there are no upcoming announcements.
Halo’s Halo World Championship 2024 saw an unexpected announcement. 343 Industries no longer exists. The studio, which has been responsible for the Halo franchise since 2011, has now renamed itself simply Halo Studios.
The announcement, which was accompanied by a longer documentary-style video, also revealed that the Slipspace Engine no longer exists either. Future Halo games will run on Unreal Engine 5. And yes, games, as there appear to be “several” games in development.
According to Halo Studios, it is a new chapter. “If you really break Halo down, there have been two very different chapters,” said studio head Pierre Hintze. “Chapter 1 – Bungie. Chapter 2 – 343 Industries. Now I think we have an audience hungry for more. So we’re not only going to try to improve development efficiency, but also change the recipe for how we Halo is what makes games, so we’re starting a new chapter today.”
Halo is getting a fresh start in the best way
The accompanying video had several scenes of Master Chief and the Covenant, all created in Unreal. That’s the kind of potential the long-running franchise has in Unreal instead of Slipspace Engine. What’s more, it will also make things noticeably easier for the developers, as the Slipspace Engine required an all-hands-on-deck approach.
That, plus the desire to create new experiences more frequently as game development times and budgets skyrocket, are part of the basis of the swap.
“The way we made Halo games before doesn’t necessarily work well for the way we want to make games for the future,” COO Elizabeth van Wyck said in a post on Xbox Wire. “So part of the conversation we had was about how we help the team focus on making games, rather than making the tools and the engines.”
Moving to Unreal also comes with a third hidden benefit: familiarity. As more game developers, both old and new, become familiar with Unreal instead of a proprietary engine, this will definitely make things easier on the recruiting side. In other words, the exposure across development will help developers get up to speed faster and make an immediate impact on games.
As mentioned above, it has been confirmed that “several” new Halo projects are in the works. It’s important to note that no announcement is imminent. What’s more, Halo Infinite and the Slipspace Engine it runs on will still be supported. Either way, it’s a new era for Halo in seemingly the best possible way.
