Their technology, announced as something spectacular, has supposedly ended up in the trash; such is the trouble.

Bonnie Ross, Joe Staten, and Kiki Wolfkill are just three prominent names leaving 343 Industries, and we’ve also recently heard that the studio was involved in the Microsoft layoffs. We’ve heard from the company that the future of Halo is in good hands. Despite Redmond’s best efforts to portray the state of 343 Industries in a positive light, it is evident that there are problems around the studio and that they cannot be resolved in the short term.

According to Jason Schreier, writing for Bloomberg, 343 Industries is essentially undergoing a reboot. Although Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty says the studio’s employees will stay on to lead Halo, the team has lost at least 95 people, which doesn’t sound like that many when considering their 2021 headcount (about 750). Still, Schreier says the layoffs have included many Halo veterans and higher-level employees.

However, it’s not only in this respect that changes are worth preparing for. The Slipspace Engine is reportedly being dropped by 343 Industries, which is sad because they used their technology only in Halo Infinite and are instead using Unreal Engine 5 from Epic Games. According to several unnamed employees, Extraction and Assault, two classic multiplayer modes, have yet to be released precisely because of Slipspace. The first UE5 project, according to Schreier, will be the long-rumored big game mode from Texas-based Certain Affinity. This support studio was first a battle royale but has undergone significant development. Story DLC? Schreier claims there won’t be one, as the studio is experimenting with Unreal Engine 5 instead and is making more drafts of new Halo games for Microsoft.

All this is unofficial, but let’s not forget that Halo Infinite got off to a lackluster start despite repeated delays and how slowly it expanded after its release…

Source: WCCFTech