Halo Developer 343 Industries Is Changing Its Name

343 Industries announced a full rebrand, becoming Halo Studios and confirming that it is moving away from the proprietary Slipstream Engine to instead work with Unreal Engine 5 for its multiple future Halo projects. The Halo series continues to be a cornerstone franchise for the Xbox brand, though its recent releases haven’t always hit the mark with longtime fans.

Following a tumultuous development cycle and lengthy delays, Halo Infinite finally launched in December 2021 with the single player, open world gameplay being a highlight for many critics and players alike. However, Halo Infinite had its fair share of issues as well, from major desync issues with multiplayer, missing features, aggressive monetization, as well as a lack of content for a game that attempted to utilize the live-service model. While the studio eventually reached that point, there were more than a few fans wondering how things could change for the better with new games expected. As it turns out, 343 Industries has big plans for the future of the Halo franchise.

As part of a new chapter for the studio, 343 Industries is now Halo Studios, which was revealed during the Halo World Championship tournament. The rebrand is also joined by a studio change to its culture, workflow, and how its internal teams are organized, which Studio Head Pierre Hintze suggested will include the community for decisions earlier in development. While Halo Studios didn’t have any games to reveal or announce, even after a summer full of commenting on Halo franchise rumors, it was revealed that multiple projects are currently in development, though it may be some time before details are provided due to a major shift going on behind the scenes.

Halo Studios Is Switching Game Engines for Future Titles

However, the rebranding wasn’t the only big announcement made, as Studio Head Pierre Hintze confirmed that this new chapter involves changing from Halo‘s proprietary Slipspace Engine and moving to Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. The footage, known as Foundry, shown at the tournament isn’t from a new game, but it attempts to showcase what the team is able to produce working inside of the new engine. The change was made to largely alleviate internal issues, namely the speed at which developers can get acclimated as well as how fast content can be created. As Studio art director Chris Matthews indicated, there are parts of the Slipspace Engine that are nearly 25 years old, which slowed down production as the studio continuously attempted to keep the framework updated.

Moving to a more universally known engine such as Unreal should also allow the studio to attract a wider range of talent and let them hit the ground running. The challenges and struggles that impacted Halo Infinite at launch and after have been well documented. Not only did Halo Infinite suffer a year-long delay, but many players became frustrated over the slow rollout of a lot of post-launch content, including the co-op campaign. While things steadily improved over time, especially as Halo Infinite moved away from traditional seasons to release more content faster, this studio wide change should prove to be a massive value add to the franchise in the long term.