The legendary Halo franchise enters a new era with these changes, fans will be over the moon

Halo: a franchise inseparable from Xbox

If you have to name one and only one Xbox license, many players will be tempted to say “Halo”and it’s completely relevant. Born with the Xbox brand in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved has always accompanied Microsoft in the video game industry. Created by Bungie, the franchise has enjoyed the heyday of many Microsoft consoles, making John-117 the most famous space fighter. Multiplayer greatly contributed to the success, with modes that are as accessible as they are demanding and creation tools that the players have fully appropriated.

Bungie developed the first three episodes, after which the studio went it aloneslowly but surely preparing what later became Destiny. Before releasing the FPS online, the studio still worked on Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach on behalf of Microsoft. It remains that since then, 343 Industries has taken care of the licensingsortant Halo 4, Halo Spartan Assault, la Master Chief Collection, Halo Spartan Strike, Halo 5 : Guardians et… Halo Infinite.

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Halo Infinite: discreet success

This latest game has had a complicated development, and the first gameplay presentation only made things more evident. 343 Industries then decided to listen to the feedback and push the exit back. It will finally arrive on December 8, 2021, with mixed success. Players are numerous and reviews are generally good, but public reception is mixed.

Some criticize a flat campaign despite the introduction of the tractor rope, others complain of too poor multiplayer, without the Forge or even a progression system that is too close to 100% free-to-play titles. All this has gradually been improved and, today, Halo Infinite multiplayer players seem satisfied. There are just over 2,200 on average on Steam, and there are an estimated 22,000 players in total. The fact remains that the future of Halo was posed in an extremely tense industrial context.

343 Industries is dead, long live 343 Industries!

This weekend the Halo World Championships took place, and it was during this event that Microsoft announced big changes at the franchise level. First, it was announced that 343 Industries is over. Don’t panic, the studio is simply changing its name to become Halo Studios. A way to put the license back at the heart of the subject, and to signify that this studio is dedicated body and soul to the franchise.

If you really analyze Halo, there were two very distinct chapters. Chapter 1 – Bungie. Chapter 2 – 343 Industries. Now I think we have an audience that wants more. So we’re not only going to try to improve development efficiency, but also change the recipe for creating Halo games. We are therefore starting a new chapter today, declared Pierre Hintze, director of the studio.

Another important change: the engine. The Slipspace Engine is bowing out, and the next games in the franchise will be made using the Unreal Engine 5. Halo Studios found that some elements of the engine are too dated, and that Epic’s engine has options that would be extremely expensive to develop.

It is therefore a question of simplifying the production pipeline, to release titles more quickly, without destroying the budget, and without having to maintain an increasingly aging engine. Everything is accompanied by a internal reorganizationentirely focused on creating games without worrying about the rest. This change of engine was also designed to attract young developers and, something which deserves to be highlighted in the current context: the studio is recruiting!

It must be recognized that some elements of Slipspace are almost 25 years old. Although 343 has been developing these continuously, there are aspects of Unreal that Epic has been developing for some time that are not available to us in Slipspace. It would have taken an enormous amount of time and resources to reproduce them, said Chris Matthews, artistic director.

These changes first take the form of Project Foundryfrom which the clip you see at the top of the article comes from. It is not a game, but a two-year research project from which future titles will arise. You can discover a detailed analysis of this video on Xbox Wirewithin the Moving Forward chapter. Although we will have to wait to find out more, the team specifies that several Halo games are in production.

Yes, several games. Halo Studios specifies, however, that the time to talk about it has not come. On social networks, reactions are mixed. Some see these as saving decisions and hope to see a new dynamic when others see a “hidden misery” which will not solve the problems linked to the franchise. For now, the only thing to do is wait. We will judge the relevance of these changes when we have the new games in our hands.