343 Industries changes name to Halo Studios as part of a larger “new dawn” for itself and the declining Xbox franchise.
Sunday, the Infinite halo the developer has revealed that it will be switching from its in-house Slipspace engine to Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5 for more projects in development for the series.
For studio head Pierre Hintzethe name and engine change will improve development efficiency and “change the recipe of As we make Halo games.”
The move to Unreal was previously reported in January 2023, a decision made because Slipspace was “the source of headaches” during The one of infinity development. Hintze acknowledged the engine's problems, stating that it required the team to develop games and a technology stack simultaneously during creation Infinite.
With Unreal, the goal is to use it to “create games with a focus that pleases fans” and create teams to develop multiple games at once, a notable difference from how the franchise has historically been run.
“The way we made Halo games before doesn't necessarily work as well for the way we want to make games of the future,” said Elizabeth van Wyck, COO of Halo Studios.
Halo's great journey to Unreal
Several triple-A developers have embraced Unreal after working so long with proprietary engines. To date, the list of large studios using Unreal includes CD Projekt Red, BioWareAND Romero games.
Like the one from Kotaku Ethan Gach noted, most first-party Xbox studios have switched to Unreal for their next immediate project.
To fully prepare for making a Halo game in Unreal, the studio worked on a research project called “Project Foundry,” which van Wyck said helped the team “educate and understand what our capabilities are… and know that we are on the right path.” .”
If all goes according to plan, Hintze said “most of what we presented at Foundry is expected be in projects we are building or in future projects.”
In the midst of all this, Infinite Halo is still receiving post-launch support, as an upcoming third person mode announced over the weekend.
Infinite halo had a sadly tumultuous launch and a first-year cycle that 343 took time to recover from. Following mass layoffs from Microsoft in early 2023, many former staff he stated that the game had been mishandled by Xbox leadership and that the studio's future with Halo was called into question.
With the new name and engine change, Halo Studios says it has “recalibrated” itself, so that “the people who make games day in and day out” [get] be the ones who make decisions about matches,” van Wyck said.
“We want a singular focus,” Hintze continued. “Everyone is here to make the best Halo games possible.”
You can read Xbox's full blog on Halo Studios, Unreal Engine 5, and “Project Foundry.” Here.