343 Industries Renamed to Halo Studios, Multiple Halo Games Using Unreal Engine 5 in Development - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 06 October 2024 / 3,785 Views
343 Industries has been renamed to Halo Studios and multiple Halo games are currently in development using Unreal Engine 5, announced Studio Head Pierre Hintze.
"If you really break Halo down, there have been two very distinct chapters," said Hintze. "Chapter 1 – Bungie. Chapter 2 – 343 Industries. Now, I think we have an audience which is hungry for more. So we’re not just going to try improve the efficiency of development, but change the recipe of how we make Halo games. So, we start a new chapter today."
Previous Halo games used the studio's proprietary engine Slipspace Engine and the shift to Unreal Engine 5 is a key part of the change at the studio.
"We believe that the consumption habits of gamers have changed – the expectations of how fast their content is available," said Hintze. "On Halo Infinite, we were developing a tech stack that was supposed to set us up for the future, and games at the same time."
Halo Studios COO Elizabeth van Wyck added, "The way we made Halo games before doesn’t necessarily work as well for the way we want to make games for the future. So part of the conversation we had was about how we help the team focus on making games, versus making the tools and the engines."
Halo Studios Art Director Chris Matthews stated that "some components of Slipspace are almost 25 years old. Although 343 were developing it continuously, there are aspects of Unreal that Epic has been developing for some time, which are unavailable to us in Slipspace – and would have taken huge amounts of time and resources to try and replicate.
"One of the primary things we’re interested in is growing and expanding our world so players have more to interact with and more to experience. Nanite and Lumen [Unreal’s rendering and lighting technologies] offer us an opportunity to do that in a way that the industry hasn’t seen before. As artists, it’s incredibly exciting to do that work."
Another benefit to switching to Unreal Engine 5 is developers are far more familiar with that engine than Slipspace and new hires had to take the time to learn how to use Slipspace.
"It’s not just about how long it takes to bring a game to market, but how long it takes for us to update the game, bring new content to players, adapt to what we’re seeing our players want," said Van Wyck. "Part of that is [in how we build the game], but another part is the recruiting. How long does it take to ramp somebody up to be able to actually create assets that show up in your game?"
The studio experimented with Unreal Engine 5 and came up with a research project called Project Foundry (view the video above for footage of this research). Project Foundry is not a new Halo game, but isn't just a traditional tech demo. It is the studio exploring what is possible with the engine.
"When we decided to do Foundry, it wasn’t, at that point, in our plan," said Van Wyck. "But we needed to pause and – ‘validate’ is not the right word, but educate and understand what our capability is, and assess it, so we actually know we’re on the right path.
"We’ve intentionally been really quiet up to this point, but I think [today] is about just sharing where we are, what our priorities are as a studio, and where the team is. We’re really proud of what came out of Foundry."
Matthews added, "Where this type of work’s been done historically, across the industry, it can contain a lot of smoke and mirrors. It sometimes leads players down paths where they believe it’s going to be one thing, and then something else happens. The ethos of Foundry is vigorously the opposite of that.
"Everything we’ve made is built to the kind of standards that we need to build for the future of our games. We were very intentional about not stepping into tech demo territory. We built things that we truly believe in, and the content that we’ve built – or at least a good percentage of it – could travel anywhere inside our games in the future if we so desire it."
Hintze stated, "It’s fair to say that our intent is that the majority of what we showcased in Foundry is expected to be in projects which we are building, or future projects."
Halo Studios has worked closely with Epic Games to ensure the team can reach their goals.
"Halo is such an incredible franchise and it’s awesome to see Halo Studios already pushing the boundaries of Unreal Engine 5," said Vice President and General Manager of Unreal Engine at Epic Games Bill Clifford. "We’re honored to support the Halo team in realizing their creative visions through Unreal Engine. Project Foundry’s work demonstrates how they can bring Halo to life with beautifully detailed, uncompromised worlds."
The studio does want to ensure these future Halo games will still feel like Halo with the combat, weapons, vehicles, etc.
"I think it’s pretty well known that [switching engine] has been a topic that the studio has thought about for a long, long time," said Van Wyck. "[The release of] Unreal Engine 5 was when we felt like we could make Halo games that respect and reflect the true soul of Halo while also being able to build games that can deliver on the scale and ambition of content that players want."
Matthews added, ""The spirit of Halo is more than just the visuals. It’s the lore. It’s the physics. Playing as the Chief, you’re this huge tank of a soldier – it’s the way that he moves, he feels. We’re all really obsessed about what our players love about Halo. We’re constantly listening to this feedback – and that’s at the core of any initiative like Foundry, or any intention that the studio has about how we move forwards."
Hintze stated, "We’re thinking about the intangibles. The interaction with the Master Chief, or your Spartan, or the enemies. We are very careful about the decisions we’re making in that space – down to the precision and authenticity of the weapons, the authenticity of the animations. There are a list of nuances which we use to verify that we’re on track."
Halo Studios isn't unveiling what the upcoming Halo games are right now and they are just in the beginning of this new chapter. A new Halo game isn't imminent, and Halo Infinite will still be supported with more Operations and updates to Forge mode.
"One of the things I really wanted to get away from was the continued teasing out of possibilities and 'must-haves,'" said Hintze. "We should do more and say less. For me, I really think it is important that we continue the posture which we have right now when it comes to our franchise – the level of humility, the level of servitude towards Halo fans.
"We should talk about things when we have things to talk about, at scale. Today, it’s the first step – we’re showing Foundry because it feels right to do so – we want to explain our plans to Halo fans, and attract new, passionate developers to our team. The next step will be talking about the games themselves."
"We had a disproportionate focus on trying to create the conditions to be successful in servicing Halo Infinite. [But switching to Unreal] allows us to put all the focus on making multiple new experiences at the highest quality possible."
Leadership at Halo Studios has been reorganizing the structure at the developer in order give the teams what they need.
"At the end of the day, if we build the games that our players want to play, that’s how we’ll be successful," said Van Wyck. "That’s what should motivate what we build. That’s also what this structure has done – we want the people that are day-in-day-out making the games to be the ones to make the decisions on the games.
"We’re seeking earlier and earlier, wider and wider feedback from our players. We started that with The Master Chief Collection, and carried that on with Halo Infinite, and we want to do it even more for our next projects. At the end of the day, it’s not just how do we evaluate, it’s how do our players evaluate it?"
Hintze concluded, "You asked why we consider this as a new chapter. We want a singular focus. Everyone is in this place is here to make the best possible Halo games."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Exactly lol
Those UE5 renders are GORGEOUS! Also, that seems like lowkey confirmation about the rumored Halo CE remake lol.
New name, new tech, new leadership from top to bottom, I’ll be anxiously waiting to see how this works out! My 2 biggest concerns when it comes to Halo on UE are Forge and Halo’s signature in-game physics. But I imagine they wouldn’t have made the switch if they didn’t know for certain it would work. Not a huge fan of the actual studio name, but it does come off as them having confidence in the Halo names capabilities of still being seen as a flagship franchise. Because let’s be honest, the 343 Industries name is pretty tarnished at this point lol. I’m hoping for the best on this new endeavor!
MS also own the Havok engine so i am sure they will incorporate it somehow, or they might just move past the old Halos and go their own direction again like they did with 4 and 5.
They could also use Unreal's Chaos physics, an underutilized but impressive system that's still being updated.
They just better be damn sure that the gameplay still feels like Halo. The feel is and always has been the single most important characteristic of Halo.
Way to branch out and allow your studio some creative freedom. Name them exclusively after the only game they are allowed to make. :P
Like Turn 10 who only makes Forza, its nothing new.
You would think people would research before jumping to that conclusion
Right but 343 is just a number, Turn 10 isn't 'Forza Games', they could branch out if they wanted, right?
Well, not Halo Studios. They are named after the game they have to make.
That's the thing though, it isn't just a number to 343 Industries or Halo fans, 343 is a character from Halo, a major protagonist/antagonist who is in Halo 1, 2 and 3. They may be named after Halo now, the IP, or the Halo Ring, but they were always named after a major part of Halo.
343 was created solely to make Halo games, hence why they named the studio after a Halo character. They are rebranding to have a fresh start. Halo Studios will make Halo games just like 343 was before the rebranding.
This is exactly the same as Turn 10 which was created solely to make Forza games decades ago.
Last time they let a Halo studio keep its non Halo related name, they wanted to do something else other than Halo eventually, and that was a problem for MS.
Then they left MS when they weren't allowed to branch out.
Best to get ahead of it this time and make sure 343 understands that they will be staying 'inside the box' forever.
I don't think there was any doubt about the purpose of the studio even before this, but if there was, there is none anymore.
When in doubt release Halo. Seems to be there "black glass in-case of emergency".
We've literally only gotten 2 new Halo games in the past 10 years...
I didn't say new. Halo MCC, Halo SS, Halo 5, Halo wars 2, Halo Infinite.
But I guess I was thinking of the news involving Halo infinite like it having a third person mode.
Along side the Halo TV show
And I haven't even heard of Halo Recruit, or Halo Fireteam
Yeah this news doesn't have anything to do with any of that. This is specifically just about the future about both the studio and franchise when it comes to new games. If anything, we're not gonna hear anything about Halo for a long time when it comes to what comes out of these massive changes.
the name change is unnecessary .
So is people complaining about it...
The use of UE5 is also universal for young developers. This will allow Halo to have faster content and even better polish due to the rotating staff we see yearly, this means when they replace staff, the new staff should be already familiar with the engine and won't have to learn new engines from scratch like Slipspace etc. This is actually really good news for the series.
Also, those photos are mind-blowing. If Halo looks anything close to that, damn.
Except UE5 has had bad release after bad release...
Nearly every UE5 game releases with performance issues that didnt exist in UE4
Xbox own the UE expert team in the Coalition. This means they can actually jump in and help in the development instead of using Slipspace, they wouldnt be familiar with it at all.
That's thing about game engines. They are constantly improving and becoming more efficient with updates and better tools. Games that started development early in the life cycle of UE5 will have more performance issues than games starting development a year ago or 2 years from now.
With all due respect, I think I'll just pretend chapter one was the only chapter that ever existed. It had a start, a middle, and a satisfying end. That is enough for me.
Yeah, because the name was the problem...
You think of it from the perspective of how much has been changed at the studio and you can see why the name change. Every person in management at 343 has been replaced, they’re transitioning away from tech that’s been part of Halo since the beginning. So it’s really no longer 343. It’s practically an entirely new studio.
Not to mention, you say the name 343 and people already roll their eyes because of how many missteps the studio has had since its inception. Hell, I’ve already seen several “it’s still 343” comments even though it absolutely isn’t. Odd name choice, but it’s what the name represents.
It looks good, but the messaging, hmm if they do indeed have better leadership, direction and ideas that fit not too much struggling or outsourcing and just confusion of what the product is supposed to be, if Gears Tactics and Halo Wars can exist, and a linear/open world Halo like a Linear/Open World or different approaches Zelda or others can why not offer them? See what audiences want.
But that's too singleplayer isn't it then platform or solo/multiplayer and them mostly focusing on multiplayer and solo being ok I guess with Infinite? I didn't care to play it. I didn't play 5 till like 5-7 years later on purpose.
But I think trialing something is fair to see what works.
For the series to keep going because Microsoft wants it to so they better try more by all means go for it. Experiment. COD experimented in the PS3/360 era well I think, too many games and many cancelled I can see why but wow just wow the ideas, some salvaged like the Ghost mission with the space part that one cancelled one had.
A new engine sure. Coalition did good to continue Gears in Unreal then a Gears engine.
Forza tech eh we will see how it goes.
I get them not wanting to give Epic or others money but if the engine is the problem besides workflow, staff/leadership and so on factors then get those right as well.
Earn players trust not messaging we find hard to believe at times and sounds so generic I barely listened to what they had to say.
In the video shown, None of those clowns in the Video never mentioned essential Halo principles like “30 seconds of fun “, Halo best enemies the Elite, best in class AI, or dynamic physics……. but couldn’t wait to fill the start of the video with as many women as possible.. I have zero trust in this.
Oh & Halo is my favourite game series of all time & it’s now dead to me. I have bought Master chief collection 5 times & have played the campaigns so many time I’ve lost count.
My issue with unreal engine 5 is the heavy use of taa
Better than FXAA.
Waaaay to many halo games..
Never enough Halo games.
Essay Pro