343 Industries is undergoing significant changes that will forever alter the future of the Halo franchise, according to a Bloomberg report from Jason Schreier. The site’s sources explain that while 343 will remain as the series’s lead studio, it will “all but start from scratch” for a variety of reasons. For now, its next game is in the works under the codename “Tatanka,” and it’s being made with Unreal Engine instead of 343 Industries’ usual Slipspace engine. Tatanka reportedly began as a battle royale title, but the early-in-development project could “evolve in different directions.”
The report states that some developers fear this switch to a new engine could negatively impact Halo’s gameplay. However, it sounds like the move is a long time coming. Slipspace has been a notoriously problematic engine to develop games with due to its dated code and buggy nature. In fact, Bloomberg reports that long-in-the-works Halo Infinite game modes like Extraction and Assault have yet to launch to the public largely due to Slipspace engine issues.
Adding to the changes at 343 are massive layoffs that hit the company earlier this month. At least 95 employees have reportedly lost their jobs, including “dozens of veterans including top directors and contractors,” per Bloomberg. Additionally, more Halo Infinite story content is said to have never been in the cards for 343. Instead, some developers had been workshopping new prototypes in Unreal Engine and pitching ideas for Halo games. Many of those same developers were laid off this month, and the studio still has no plans for new narrative content.
Halo Infinite was poised as the future of the franchise and launched to mostly positive reception. Fans latched on to the series reinvention before a not-so-stellar post-launch left many fans dissatisfied owing to a lack of regular substantial content updates. While 343 will continue work on Tatanka, with support from game developer Certain Affinity, it’s clear the Halo series will look very different moving forward (and maybe run in Unreal Engine).
