In
a
very
surprising
announcement,
Halo
developer
343
Industries,
which
was
founded
to
takeover
the
Halo
franchise
from
Bungie,
has
announced
that
it
is
being
rebranded.

Now
going
by
Halo
Studios,

the
company
also
made
a
couple
of
other
announcements
in
an
Xbox
Wire
post.
From
now
on,
all
Halo
projects
will
be
made
in
Unreal
Engine
5,
shifting
away
from
the
proprietary
Slipspace
Engine
that
was
used
to
create
Halo
Infinite.

The
video
shown
is
what
Halo
Studios
refers
to
as
Foundry,
which
is
neither
a
new
game
nor
a
“traditional
tech
demo.”
What’s
shown
is
supposed
to
be
 “a
true
reflection
of
what
would
be
required
for
a
new
Halo
game
using
Unreal,
and
a
training
tool
for
how
to
get
there.
Foundry
has
been
made
with
the
same
rigor,
process,
and
fidelity
as
a
shipped
game
would
be.”

“If
you
really
break
Halo
down,
there
have
been
two
very
distinct
chapters.
Chapter
1
–
Bungie.
Chapter
2
–
343
Industries,”
Studio
Head
Pierre
Hintze
said
to
Xbox
Wire.
“Now,
I
think
we
have
an
audience
which
is
hungry
for
more.
So
we’re
not
just
going
to
try
improve
the
efficiency
of
development,
but
change
the
recipe
of how we
make
Halo
games.
So,
we
start
a
new
chapter
today.”

The
idea
is
that
by
switching
over
to
the
widely
used
Unreal
Engine
5,
Halo
Studios
will
able
to
create
games
quicker
and
will
be
able
to
hire
talented
developers
who
don’t
need
to
learn
how
Slipspace
works.

“Respectfully,
some
components
of
Slipspace
are
almost
25
years
old,”
said
Studio
Art
Director,
Chris
Matthews.
“Although
343
were
developing
it
continuously,
there
are
aspects
of
Unreal
that
Epic
has
been
developing
for
some
time,
which
are
unavailable
to
us
in
Slipspace
–
and
would
have
taken
huge
amounts
of
time
and
resources
to
try
and
replicate.”

The
Xbox
Wire
post
frequently
mentions
multiple
games
being
in
the
works,
but
details
are
thin
on
the
ground.
It
does,
however,
mention
that
 “it’s
fair
to
say
that
a
new
Halo
game
isn’t
imminent.”

Hintze
also
stated
that
the
team
has
been
intentionally
quiet,
as
he
believes
 “We
should
do
more
and
say
less.”

“We
should
talk
about
things
when
we
have
things
to
talk
about,
at
scale,”
Hinte
said.
“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.”

The
shift
to
Unreal
Engine
5
is
interesting
because
it
will
also
theoritcally
allow
for
easier
porting.
Given
how
Xbox
is
now
willing
to
move
some
franchises
over
to
the
rival
PlayStation,
could
this
be
another
step
toward
some
futurew
in
which
Master
Chief
can
be
controlled
with
a
Dualsense?

Ultimately
though,
all
the
graphical
bells
and
whistles
mean
very
little
to
a
franchise
that
is
built
on
its
physics
and
game
feel.
Halo
is
beautiful,
but
its
never
been
at
the
cutting
edge
of
visuals.
Hopefully,
the
newly
named
Halo
Studios
will
remember
this
and
keep
their
focus
on
the
gameplay
above
all
else.