Halo developer 343 Industries misplaced at the very least 95 folks as a result of Microsoft’s current layoffs, and the studio is seemingly switching from its proprietary Slipspace engine to Epic Video games’ broadly used Unreal Engine for future video games, Bloomberg reports.
The way forward for Halo has been considerably up within the air since the layoffs announced on January 18th. Halo Infinite had a robust launch in late 2021, however over time, followers began to get aggravated by frustrations with multiplayer development, repeated delays to deliberate options like community marketing campaign co-op and Forge (which lastly launched in November), and no indication that new marketing campaign content material was imminent.
343 has publicly affirmed its dedication to the franchise following the layoffs. “Halo and Grasp Chief are right here to remain,” studio head Pierre Hintze, who took over the position in September, stated in a press release tweeted from the Halo account on January 21st. “343 Industries will proceed to develop Halo now and sooner or later, together with epic tales, multiplayer, and extra of what makes Halo nice.” And Matt Booty, who heads up Xbox Recreation Studios, informed Bloomberg in an interview that “343 will proceed as the inner developer for Halo and because the house of Halo.”
However it’s unclear after we would possibly see the subsequent sport within the sequence, so it’s troublesome to know precisely what 343’s involvement might be with the franchise going ahead. For instance, the studio was already working with Austin-based Sure Affinity on a battle royale sport codenamed Tatanka, however that sport “might evolve in numerous instructions,” Bloomberg experiences.
Tatanka may also apparently be developed on Unreal Engine, whereas future Halo video games “may also discover utilizing” Unreal, Bloomberg says. If true, the change marks yet one more main sport developer transferring to Unreal; Witcher and Cyberpunk developer CD Projekt Pink introduced a “multi-year strategic partnership” with Epic Video games to make use of Unreal in March, and in November, Epic stated that greater than half of all introduced next-gen video games are made on Unreal Engine.
343 additionally apparently hasn’t been making new story content material for Halo Infinite, which appears shocking for a sport once billed because the “begin of the subsequent ten years for Halo” and titled, nicely, Infinite. As an alternative, builders have been “making prototypes within the Unreal Engine and pitching concepts for brand spanking new Halo video games,” Bloomberg says. I used to be personally disillusioned to learn that, as I actually loved Infinite’s marketing campaign and had been hoping for extra.
We’ve requested Microsoft for touch upon Bloomberg’s report. Epic declined to remark.