'Halo' Dev 343 Industries Shifts to Unreal Engine 5, Rebrands as Halo Studios

Halo developer 343 Industries has rebranded itself as Halo Studios and has shifted to using Unreal Engine 5.

The move was allegedly made in order to take Xbox's flagship first-person shooter title to multiple platforms, including the PlayStation 5. Digital Foundry chief Richard Leadbetter said that the shift to Unreal Engine 5 makes it easier for the team to work on multi-platform development.

Halo Studios

He added that "it stands to reason that an engine designed for deployment across multiple platforms would be easier to work with than existing technology built for Xbox and PC." The multi-platform push that Microsoft led received backlash from some hardcore fans.

This was primarily because of the lack of any Halo game for a non-Xbox console. Despite this, the move has seen success as Sea of Thieves, for example, topped Sony's sales chart earlier this year, according to IGN.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer also said that the company's franchises are stronger for heading to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch devices. This can be seen with more PlayStation 5 releases, such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Spencer said in August earlier this year that Xbox's multi-platform push is partly about bringing in more profit to Microsoft's gaming business. This comes as the pressure is now on to deliver to players after the company's $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.

Halo Studios also shared some screenshots following the announcement of the transition to Unreal Engine 5. These images showed what Halo would look like in Epic's leading game engine, Forbes said.

The decision is a significant change to the franchise given that the custom Slipspace engine has previously caused issues for the series. While Halo Infinite will continue to use it, the studio acknowledges that over time, too much effort was spent managing the engine instead of making new games.

Shift to Unreal Engine 5

While Halo Studios confirmed that it is working on new games, it did not detail what these titles could be. Many fans are now wondering whether they could include the revival of story-based projects and the battle royale.

The development is also the latest sign that Microsoft is still investing heavily in the Halo franchise. The series has sold more than 81 million copies to date and has generated an estimated $10 billion and more in revenue for the company.

The latest entry in the franchise is Halo Infinite which was released in December 2021. It opened to relatively positive reviews but some complained about the quality and length of time that was taken to bring it to life, according to Venture Beat.