The future of Halo is starting to come into focus. During the Halo World Championships on Sunday, 343 Industries made a number of announcements, including that it will officially change its name to Halo Studios and that it is working on several new games. Additionally, the newly rebranded studio says that all future projects will be developed using the Unreal Engine, leaving behind the Slipspace engine used by Halo Infinite.
The announcements were revealed in a seven-minute video shown ahead of the Halo World Championship Grand Finals, which showcased the results of the Foundry project – a demo project designed to showcase a Halo game created using the Unreal Engine. Although it’s little more than a technical demo, it offers a glimpse of a fresh start for the main Xbox franchise in the wake of 2021’s Halo Infinite.
It’s a major shift for the Halo series, not least because of the resources poured into the Slipspace engine during its development. The studio formerly known as 343 Industries struggled with the Slipspace engine during Halo Infinite’s development, in part because it used tools dating back to the early 2000s. However, it was expected to serve as the basis for the series after Halo Infinite.
“With all due respect, some of the components of Slipspace are about 25 years old,” art director Chris Matthews said in an interview with the website. Xbox wire. “Although 343 has been constantly developing it, there are aspects of Unreal that Epic has been working on for some time that are not available to us at Slipspace – and would have taken an enormous amount of time and resources to try to replicate.”
A report released in early 2023 indicated that Halo developers were ready to hit the reset button on the series after a major change within the studio, including a move to the Unreal Engine. The report also stated that Halo developers were focusing on promoting new Halo games while prototyping ideas. The Foundry project appears to be the culmination of this effort.
The newly renamed Halo Studios, for its part, is looking to move forward under the leadership of Pierre Hintz, Elisabeth van Wyk, and Brian Koski, with the studio now working on several new games. All three have stepped into the studio’s senior roles following the departure of studio GM Bonnie Ross in 2022, with Xbox veteran Joseph Staten departing in 2023. The new name and engine come after Xbox said earlier this year that it was “full speed ahead.” On next-gen Xbox Series
“We had a disproportionate focus on trying to create the conditions for success on the Halo Infinite service,” Hintz says.[But switching to Unreal] It allows us to focus entirely on delivering multiple new experiences of the highest quality possible.
Halo Studios says the projects will be “ready when they’re ready.” In the meantime, stay tuned for more analysis on IGN as well Podcast is open.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s news director and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Do you have any advice? Send her a direct message at @the_katbot.
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