Back when the studio was known as 343 Industries, Halo Studios was already considering deploying Epic Games’ technology for the latest chapter in the franchise.

The idea of using Unreal Engine for Halo Infinite was on the table, but 343 Industries ultimately decided to stick with the Slipspace Engine due to a number of concerns—including the fact that switching engines would have impacted their vision for the game. In the embedded video below, Rebs Gaming reports on the recent discovery of an official Halo Infinite documentary on a former 343 Industries developer’s Vimeo profile. The documentary, created in 2017, redefined 343 Industries’ vision for the project and was used to appeal to Xbox leadership for support. After the discovery, the film was made private. It features a presentation by studio head Chris Lee, revealing that the studio was indeed seriously considering using Unreal Engine for the next major Halo game.

In May 2017, the development team visited The Coalition for a two-day Unreal Engine demo before making their decision the following month. It was a turbulent time at the studio, as a former developer revealed that the art team threatened to quit unless management considered switching to Unreal. In the end, the results favored Slipspace—while Unreal was superior in certain aspects, the in-house engine was still considered stronger in others. Rebuilding the game’s technical foundations would have taken two years, and a full engine switch would have affected the overall vision. The board also took a vote: 85% preferred Slipspace over Unreal Engine.

Even though Halo Studios eventually switched to Unreal Engine 5 for the next installment, up until the end of 2022 it appeared that Slipspace still had some life left in it, as rumors suggested it would power the direct sequel to Halo Infinite. But with the management shakeup in September 2022, those plans changed, and Slipspace was replaced by Unreal Engine 5.

Source: WCCFTech