Halo developer 343 Industries is rebranding to Halo Studios and will be using Unreal Engine for their upcoming games.
Sunday’s Halo World Championship tournament brought some major news this weekend. A technical test video showcased several iconic Halo maps and characters utilizing Unreal Engine 5. It was named Project Foundry. The alien-shooter studio also announced that 343 Industries will be changing its name to Halo Studios going forward. This technical preview isn’t a complete remake of previous Halo games in UE5; it is just a glimpse of what’s ahead.
Halo Infinite was developed using 343’s Slipspace Engine, but players and industry critics noted the slow release of its campaign and multiplayer. The studio believes that switching to UE5 will help recruit new developers and get them up to speed on projects more quickly, as the engine is widely available in the industry. During the presentation, Halo Studios head Pierre Hintze suggested that the engine switch could resolve issues in future game releases.
“We believe that the consumption habits of gamers have changed—the expectations of how fast their content is available,” Hintze said. “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.”
Studio art director Chris Matthews noted that parts of the Slipspace Engine were “almost 25 years old!” He went on to explain how Unreal’s rendering and lighting technologies, Nanite and Lumen, will help the artists by providing them with more options.
Changing game engines was just half the story. The restructured studio also claimed it would be reworking its culture, workflow, and team organization. One of the suggested changes was to involve the community more in the early stages of future game development. While Halo Infinite left a significant scar on the studio, Hintze stated that the rebranded Halo Studios will announce projects when they are ready and avoid hyping them beyond what they can deliver.
Numerous projects have failed over the last decade when studios overhyped their games at launch or teased them for too long. Some of these titles include Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and No Man’s Sky. While those games improved over time, they have heightened concerns for studios like Halo Studios.
“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,” Hintze commented.
Time will tell if the transition away from 343 was the right move, or if Halo Studios will produce the same results with a different name. Foundry looks to be an experiential space that the studio will be using to showcase their updates on their future games. So far, it looks squeaky clean with the UE5 revamp. There is a whole Waypoint community post to check out more of the finer details.
