Halo, Xbox’s most important franchise, is getting another big shake up that will excite long-time fans of the sci-fi first-person shooter. The developer in charge says it has made significant progress switching to a brand-new game engine and currently have multiple games in the works.
But despite the bright future described for the series, the circumstances surrounding Xbox since last year does dour the otherwise exciting future just a bit.
Developer 343 Industries is changing its name to Halo Studios and announced the new direction for the Halo franchise during this past weekend’s 2024 Halo Championship. The announcement was made alongside a sneak peek at what future projects will look like.
“We’re entering a new dawn for Halo,” a blog post on Xbox Wire from Halo Studios reads. “Those new visuals were created using Unreal Engine 5 — and we learned that all future Halo projects will use the engine, and that multiple new games using it are in development. Alongside the engine change, the studio is seeing changes in culture, workflow, and how its teams are organized.”
The switch to Unreal Engine is a change spurred on by a desire to streamline development. The proprietary game engine that Halo Studios has been using since taking over the franchise in the last 2000s is more difficult for on-boarding new hires. By using Unreal Engine 5, new employees will be able to get up to speed on development more quickly, making the team more efficient. The switch will also result in Halo Studio's ability to release more games.
Despite the change in game engine, Halo Studios is making it a point to retain the feel of the franchise during this transition, from its music to the way weapons fire and vehicles drive. The visuals Halo Studios shared with the public come from a development test it’s calling the Foundry. The Foundry is described as sort of a training tool for future projects. According to the studio, most of what’s been show will likely be used in future games.
“We were very intentional about not stepping into tech demo territory,” Studio Art Director Chris Matthews said. “We built things that we truly believe in, and the content that we’ve built — or at least a good percentage of it — could travel anywhere inside our games in the future if we so desire it.”
The update on the Halo franchise comes at a particularly tough time for both the series and its publisher. Microsoft has had a tough time growing Game Pass’ user base and selling consoles at the same pace as its competitors. Meanwhile, 2021’s Halo Infinite, didn’t maintain the popularity of its predecessors in the years after launch despite being a free-to-play critical darling.
While what was shown of the next project seems promising, there are some parts of the announcement that reflect a broader, troublesome trend in the games industry at the moment. As exciting as it is that Halo Studios is bringing in new talent, it follows hundreds of layoffs at various Xbox studios over the last two years. In January 2023, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier specifically said 343 Industries was “hit hard” by layoffs. And this year alone, Microsoft has let go of more than 2,500 employees across several developers.
This is of course no fault of Halo Studios. But its parent company’s decision to cut knowledgeable developers working on the franchise only to replace them in two years' time seems nonsensical. If a series renaissance was around the corner, retaining talent that had been working on Halo games since 343’s founding 17 years ago seems like another great way to ensure the feel of the franchise isn’t lost during such a crucial time in its history.
Still, whatever comes of Halo Studio’s next project is sure to be an interesting turn for the series. The early screenshots are gorgeous. They include series protagonist Master Chief holding an energy sword and looking shinier than ever against a familiar backdrop. Another shows a landscape taken over by the invasive alien species known as the Flood. There’s a certain bizarreness that comes with seeing the 23-year-old out series in such high fidelity. But as long as it can retain the fun of co-op and competitive multiplayer the series is known for, the new look will surely be an added bonus fans will get used to.
Halo Studios is currently working on supporting Halo Infinite as it begins ramping up development on its multiple Halo projects.
