343 Industries Rebranded as Halo Studios; Developing Multiple Halo Games with Unreal Engine 5

Microsoft is initiating significant transformations that will drastically impact its iconic Xbox game series, Halo. Today, the tech giant announced a rebranding of its internal game development team, previously known as 343 Industries, which has been responsible for creating Halo titles since Halo 4 was launched in 2012. The new name is Halo Studios.

This change transcends mere rebranding. According to the Xbox Wire report, Halo Studios will now abandon the custom Slipspace graphics engine previously utilized. For its upcoming titles, the team will adopt Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDgR1FRJnF8

A New Dawn | Halo Studios (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDgR1FRJnF8)

The article includes insights from Chris Matthews, the Studio Art Director, who elaborated on the rationale for transitioning from Slipspace. While this engine was originally developed for Halo Infinite, it retained aspects from the Blam engine that Bungie created for the very first Halo title back in 2001.

With all due respect, certain features of Slipspace are nearly 25 years old… Despite constant development by 343, there are functionalities in Unreal that Epic has advanced significantly over time, which we lack in Slipspace. Replicating those features would have required enormous time and resources.

The studio has been engaged in what is referred to as Project Foundry, described not as a new Halo game or a technical demo, but as a project based on Unreal Engine 5 that was developed with the same level of rigor and fidelity as a finished game.

Project Foundry features three distinct environments: one reflects a classic Halo landscape filled with trees, showcasing Master Chief battling two Covenant Elites; another presents a wintery environment; and the last, Blightlands, depicts an area devastated by the Flood aliens.

Although the article indicates that Halo Studios’ next game remains a long way off, it specifies that the studio is currently developing multiple projects simultaneously. Pierre Hintze, the head of the studio, noted that the shift to Unreal Engine 5 “enables us to concentrate on delivering several new experiences at the highest quality possible.”

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