Microsoft has been curiously silent about the future of Halo for a long while now, even as it has detailed its other exclusive titles and brought back classic series like Gears of War. But now we know what has been going on behind the scenes, confirming some earlier reports. Halo is moving to Unreal Engine 5.
Here’s the topline from 343 but…not 343, as along with this announcement is a rebrand to “Halo Studios”:
“We’re entering a new dawn for Halo. Those new visuals were created using Unreal Engine 5 – and we learned that all future Halo projects will use the engine, and that multiple new games using it are in development. Alongside the engine change, the studio is seeing changes in culture, workflow, and how its teams are organized. To match that new approach, franchise stewards 343 Industries are changing their name – Halo Studios is here.”
343, sorry Halo Studios, released some short clips and still images of what Halo could potentially look like in Unreal Engine 5. To me these have a, no pun intended, unreal quality to them where yes, some contain visual splendor, though others like the bit featuring Master Chief himself, makes him looks like some sort of…toy? It’s a strange effect.
But the switch to Unreal is very important, given that the custom Slipspace engine has spelled trouble for the series for a long while now, and while Halo Infinite will continue to use the engine, there’s no big conversion happening there, the post acknowledges that over time, too much effort was spent managing the engine instead of making new games.
And yes, the announcement confirms games, plural. They did not announce what any of them actually are, and I am wondering if any of these might be the revival of story-based projects and the battle royale, both of which were reportedly cancelled. The BR was rumored to already use Unreal to build it, but the future is unclear after the idea of Halo Infinite as a “platform” for future games has not come to pass. Whatever happens, it will absolutely involve the return of Master Chief in some sort of new campaign. Though I’m not expecting it to have a number at the end of it.
Halo Infinite has indeed undergone many solid transformations over time and it does have a dedicate group of fans who engage with the multiplayer. But that group is not nearly as large as Microsoft wishes it was, as the game currently hovers at the #30 most-played game on the console, not ideal for what is supposed to be its flagship series.
There is also the concern that a move to Unreal may make Halo stop feeling like…Halo, as so much of that intangible feel relates to the engine, and may be difficult to replicate exactly.
We also do not have a timeline for when any of this will lead to one of the new games releasing. Infinite was out in 2021 after a year-long delay, and I’m sure Microsoft doesn’t want to announce something and have that happen again. And we do not know if the first game to come out of this new engine might be something smaller (a dedicated BR, etc.) or a true sequel.
It’s a new era, again, and hopefully they get it right this time.
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