343 Industries Rebrands; Moving Halo Games to Unreal Engine 5 with Multiple Projects Underway

Xbox revealed massive future plans for the Halo brand in an announcement at the Halo World Championships. The industry legend, 343 Industries will now be called Halo Studios. The rename might not be a monumental change for the fans, but bigger update is, all future Halo titles will now be developed under Unreal Engine 5, meaning that the series will get a substantial revamp in terms of its own development process, ushering in a new experience for the fans.

Why the Change?

That is what studio head Pierre Hintze has summed up in a nutshell. "The Bungie era and the 343 Industries era are two separate chapters in the journey of Halo. We're not just going to try to improve the efficiency of development but change the recipe of how we make Halo games," stated Hintze.

This new concept also removes the use of the Slipspace Engine, made especially for Halo Infinite. Switching to Unreal Engine 5 would mean Halo Studios can always concentrate solely on the development of games rather than trying to keep an aged engine alive. Studio art director Chris Matthews noted that parts of the Slipspace Engine are over nearly 25 years old and have therefore fallen behind in relation to market standards.

Epic Games developed Unreal Engine 5, which offers tools and technologies that cannot be found in Slipspace, meaning the quality and efficiency are superior.

Community Reactions

The response from Halo fans has been a mix of virality and skepticism. Many excited fans are looking forward to hoping for Unreal Engine 5's potential, its advanced capabilities and hope for the rejuvenation of the franchise. Others, however, are more cautious and point out how this transition would affect Halo's unique feel, as well as gameplay.

Looking Forward

Apart from that, Halo Studios also confirmed that several games are in production, but no update about the release date has been provided whatsoever.

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