343 has reportedly cancelled plans for new Halo Infinite story content as the studio undergoes a significant restructuring. The next Halo title, however, will get a new graphics engine if all is true.
Bad news for Halo fans! According to a recent report, 343 Industries has cancelled plans for story content for the new Halo Infinite. This news comes at a time when 343 Industries is going through massive layoffs and other internal reorganizations.
Halo Infinite has gone through a troubled development cycle, facing multiple delays and being released without critical features such as the cooperative campaign and the Forge map editor.
The former has been an essential part of the series since Halo: Combat Evolved. The Infinite version is still over a year away. Although the COVID-19 outbreak caused some of the game’s development problems, Halo Infinite’s controversial Slipspace engine also contributed to the studio’s difficulties.
Bloomberg technology contributor Jason Shrier reports that 343 is undergoing a significant studio reboot. This shake-up reportedly includes management changes and mass layoffs. Microsoft maintains that 343 is vital to the future of Halo. Changes include a move from the limited Slipspace engine to Unreal Engine 5. Season 3’s “Echoes Within” is still on track for a March release. However, 343 has reportedly halted development on Infinite’s new story missions.
Will UE5 be the new foundation of Halo?!
The next game in the Halo franchise is rumoured to be powered by Unreal Engine 5, one of a series of changes currently underway at 343 Industries. Between the TV show, the broken promises of split-screen co-op and the recent layoffs, the IP is in turmoil, which Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier can only confirm in a new report.
The investigative report claims that Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios at Microsoft, assured 343 Industries employees that while they could work with other partners, they would continue to control Halo.
This somewhat mirrors what Booty has publicly stated in response to the rumours. He confirmed that 343 would remain the primary developer of Halo. However, Schreier writes that significant changes are happening at the studio, with one of the most tangible being the engine change.
The report says that the switch from Slipspace to the Unreal Engine has been a topic of ongoing debate for the past decade. It was finally decided in favour of Unreal late last year. Allegedly, Slipspace is the reason why Extraction and Assault, popular multiplayer modes in other Halo games that are almost finished, have yet to be released. Slipspace, which is now based on ancient code, could prove to be quite cumbersome for developers. This has caused a lot of frustration for 343 staff who have had to deal with it.
The new game, currently called Tatanka, will be the first in the series to use Unreal Engine 5. 343 Industries will develop the game with Certain Affinity. It started out as a battle royale similar to Fortnite, but it may go in a different direction.
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