Following on from a report last week that offered up numerous details about a planned Halo: Combat Evolved remake or remaster that’s currently in the works, new details have appeared which seem to confirm exactly what studios are working on the project.

Reb’s Gaming, a small but reliable Halo reporter, has followed up on his last video in which he explained a source had given him several details about the long rumoured remaster/remake of Bungie’s iconic first Halo game. Not only will it change the gameplay by including a sprint option, but it is also running on two game engines.

In the first video, he explained a second team was working alongside Halo Studios, but that the source had asked him not to mention the name of the second studio. In his newest video, Reb explains that he agreed to this, with one stipulation: if he could corroborate the name of the studio with other sources, he would report. Well, he has.

Reb says he has confirmed that the studio is Virtous Abstraction, a Netherlands-based team that was bought by Virtous – the company behind the recent The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered – in late 2024/early 2025. Virtous Abstraction, formerly just Abstraction, has an impressive track record of helping ship over 60 titles, including Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Furthermore, on their website they publically list Halo Studios as one of their current partners.

Now, this does need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Reb mentions in the video that both of his sources, one of which is MintBlitz, a well known Halo content creator, heard their information from other people. In the cast of MintBlitz, a fan sent him a screenshot that seemingly confirmed a studio in the Netherlands was looking to hire developers with knowledge of Halo: Reach game engine, the very same engine that is reportedly being used alongside Unreal Engine 5 to develop the remake. The other source for Reb claims to have talked to an Abstraction employee.

Neither source is particularly strong then, but the information has been backed up by the folks at XboxEra, who say: “On our part, we can independently confirm that the report on development partners is accurate, as is the hybrid engine approach being taken. It’s important to note that Halo Studios is the lead on the project”

Chances are, we will know for sure by the end of this month. Halo Studios has confirmed that it plans on discussing what is has been working on, citing multiple projects, at the Halo World Championship on October 24-26.