Moving forward, it looks like the Halo franchise will take a step back and evolve into something new for Xbox players. In the wake of nearly 100 layoffs in 343 Industries, and even more throughout Microsoft, the company will continue to forge ahead as the developers behind one of Microsoft’s largest IPs, but with a few twists, as the team will be shifting to using the Unreal Engine from Epic Games as the leadership behind the franchise becomes more unified.
This report comes from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who shared the behind-the-scenes of what’s been happening following Microsoft’s massive layoffs earlier this year and the many rumors that 343 Industries would no longer handle the Halo franchise. 343 Industries’ studio head, Pierre Hintze, struck those rumors down in an official statement on his Twitter page.
Based on this reporting, it’s speculated that the next Halo game in the works, identified as the codenamed project, Tatanka, will use this engine. Even before the layoffs and Hintze became studio head at 343 Industries, there were rumors that the Unreal Engine might be used in a game for the Halo series.
Fans are surprised about the potential prospect of seeing the Halo franchise on the Unreal Engine. These discussions were also crucial at 343 Industries. Schreier shares that these discussions occurred within the studio, and now with Hintze in charge and the team’s engine lead, David Berger, no longer with the company, the Unreal Engine could become a reality. However, the Halo Infinite developers have not confirmed that this change will occur, especially with massive speculation regarding the future of the Halo franchise.
Supposedly, the Tatanka project is a battle royale project. The team might also use this as an opportunity to use the Unreal Engine to see how well the team uses it and how drastically different Halo feels to play as an iconic first-person shooter.
Hopefully, a more unified leadership can spark within 343 Industries to improve on Halo as a whole. Several former Halo Infinite developers have called out the studio following the initial layoffs earlier this month, sharing that the Halo titles have suffered for many years because of incompetent leadership. If the team can make its way to the Unity Engine, it might be Halo’s first positive step forward and an opportunity for developers to build trust with the fans again.
