New Chapter for Halo

Ahead of the 2024 Halo World Championship, 343 Industries announced a rebranding to Halo Studios and a transition to using Unreal Engine 5 for all future Halo projects. This shift aims to “enhance development efficiency and meet evolving gamer expectations for content availability”. This is a sensible shift in strategy as it jettisons the baggage of the old Blam/Slispace engine, the now somewhat toxic 343 Industries name, and resets the studio with a new tech stack and new vision for what Halo can be.

Why is it necessary?

343 Industries has become synonymous with failure for large sections of the fan base, despite the commericial success of many of their games. Their first release, Halo 4, was divisive amongst some of the fan base for expanding on elements of Halo Reach’s gameplay, including Sprint as a base mechanic, alongside many gameplay elements lifted directly from Call of Duty and other popular shooters of the time. Its multiplayer player numbers dropped off sharply after launch in stark contrast with Halo 3’s which remained amongst Xbox top played games for year after its initial release. The change to the classic Halo formula was blamed by many for this decline and quotes from studio higher ups at the time about hiring developers who actively hate Halo, in an effort to breathe new life and ideas in to the franchise, only served to exacerbate these feelings.

Halo 5 marked a continuing departure from “classic Halo gameplay” as it incorporated even more pronounced movement skills (I must confess I love ground pound), was content light on launch (this was quickly remedied and the game received huge support with new maps and modes from the studio for many months after launch), but also received backlash for what many perceived to have been false advertising after the elborate “Hunt the Truth” advertising campaign promised story beats and themes which never made it in to the game. The game was a massive seller for Microsoft however which is probably the reason a new approach or course correction hasnt happened sooner, as the sales masked many of the problems the studio was facing.

The Master Chief collection launched and was a broken mess. For months. And months. And months. Whilst the team tasked with fixing it did so over the course of many years (that team headed up of course by new Halo Studios head honcho Pierre Hintze) the damage was done and 343s reputation as serial failures was almost set in stone. The final nail in the coffin was of course….

Halo Infinite. The game was generally well recieved on launch with a return to a mostly classic Halo style of play, excellent shooter mechanics, a decent open world and soft story reboot. However shooters today live and die by their multiplayer offering and Infinites was painfully lacking. The game launched free to play, with the promise of a live service and tons of content, but on launch day the game lacked classic playlists like Slayer, and a general lack of features from previous games (Forge, Firefight, Infection, Griffball and career ranking were all missing, to name a few). The damage was done and #Fire343 was trending. Studio chief Bonnie Ross stepped aside, Pierre and the new team took over. This weeks announcement marks the culmination of the last two years of work. So what did they announce?

Project Foundry

The studio also introduced Project Foundry, a research initiative showcasing new visuals and gameplay mechanics using Unreal Engine. This project is not a game but serves as a benchmark for future Halo titles, ensuring they maintain the franchise’s essence while leveraging advanced technology.

Focus on Development

The transition from the proprietary Slipspace Engine to Unreal is designed to streamline workflows, allowing multiple teams to work on different games simultaneously. This change is expected to shorten the onboarding process for new developers and improve game update cycles. So far the 6 year wait between 343 Halo games has proven too long for many fans who have grown impatient with 343s lack of ability to deliver, depsite being given ample time to produce a finished product.

Visual Innovations

Foundry features three distinct biomes inspired by Halo lore, including familiar landscapes and entirely new environments. The visuals emphasize detailed graphics and immersive experiences, aiming to push the boundaries of what has been achieved in gaming.

Future Games

While no specific titles were announced, Halo Studios confirmed that multiple new games are in development, with ongoing support for Halo Infinite. The studio is committed to engaging with the community for feedback throughout the development process.

Cultural Shift

The restructuring within Halo Studios emphasizes a singular focus on creating high-quality Halo games, with decisions driven by developers who are directly involved in the game-making process.

This last point is a welcome change in focus. We know from insiders that Halo Infinites launch was dogged by issues of wide spread contractor use. Microsoft has a corporate strategy of bolstering their teams with contractors, whos stay for 18 months before being let go, as a way of maintaining flexibility, and saving costs on employee benefits. Which is great for the bottom line but not so good when youre trying to ship a massive game, with an ageing tech stack and lots of creative challenges to overcome. Hopefully now Halo Studios can build a team that grows and develops its own sense of style and culture, and that this finds its way in to the games for a franchise loved by millions.

Check out the official annoucement on the Xbox Blog at https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/10/06/halo-studios-unreal-engine-interview/