343 Industries, the developer behind the acclaimed Halo franchise, is undergoing significant transformation as it sets out to redefine its future. Effective immediately, the studio will develop all upcoming Halo titles using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. The announcement, made on Sunday, emphasizes a pivotal shift for the franchise, which now includes a rebranding of the studio to Halo Studios.
New Projects on the Horizon
During the Halo World Championship event, 343 Industries unveiled new gameplay footage created in Unreal Engine 5, showcasing three distinct environments and featuring the series’ iconic protagonist, Master Chief. However, the studio clarified that this footage is part of a “Foundry” project, not a specific upcoming game, and is intended to lay the groundwork for future Halo titles.
While multiple Halo games utilizing Unreal Engine 5 are confirmed to be in development, 343 Industries did not disclose any release timelines. The team’s previous effort was Halo Infinite, which launched in 2021.
Halo environments rendered in Unreal Engine 5
Photo Credit: Microsoft/ Halo Studios
Transition to Unreal Engine 5
In light of these changes, 343 Industries is also reorganizing its structure to better align with its new direction. Changing its name to Halo Studios symbolizes this fresh start. By transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, the developer aims to focus more on game creation rather than spending resources on refining the aging Slipspace Engine.
Chris Matthews, the studio’s art director, noted in an Xbox Wire post that many components of Slipspace are nearly 25 years old. He explained that while 343 had been continuously developing it, the technologies within Unreal Engine developed by Epic have long been inaccessible, implying that replicating those features in Slipspace would have consumed excessive time and resources.
As the newly named Halo Studios moves forward, the focus is on reducing development timelines for its upcoming projects. Previously, a significant portion of the team was dedicated to enhancing the Slipspace engine for past titles, which studio head Pierre Hintze articulated as a dual effort between tech development and game creation during the development of Halo Infinite.
The studio’s reorganization also includes the formation of multiple teams tasked with creating different Halo games simultaneously. While the Foundry footage serves as an initial glimpse of the studio’s future, Hintze cautioned that a new Halo title is not expected to launch imminently. He emphasized that the studio will choose the right moment to discuss future games.
“We should talk about things when we have things to talk about, at scale,” Hintze remarked. “Today marks the beginning – revealing Foundry aligns with our goal to communicate our plans to Halo fans and attract new, dedicated developers to our team. The next step will be to share details about the upcoming games themselves.”
