Report: 343 Industries Undergoes Effective Reboot Amidst Layoffs as Halo Franchise Pivots to Unreal Engine

343 industries layoffs halo

It’s been a rough past few months for Microsoft’s 343 Industries, with mass layoffs and veteran developers leaving the studio. This has resulted in an effective 343 Industries reboot of sorts, and the Halo franchise is set to receive some major changes in the future.

According to a report from Bloomberg, at least 95 people from 343 Industries were affected by the Microsoft layoffs, effectively hollowing out the company. Some of these developers were apparently the same ones who were working on Unreal Engine prototypes of Halo, as reported last year. This is an interesting development given the claim that 343’s own Slipspace engine was part of the reason why the popular Extraction and Assault game modes never arrived in Halo Infinite.

Questions arose regarding 343’s role in the Halo franchise moving forward due to the layoffs and key figure departures, but it seems as though the studio will continue to work on Halo for the time being. 343 made a statement that it will continue to make Halo games following negative press surrounding the company, and Xbox CEO Phil Spencer reiterated this in an interview with IGN.

Still, with fewer developers in 343 to work on Halo, the studio has reportedly decided to rely on outside support. The upcoming Tatanka game mode that was reported last year will be made alongside Certain Affinity, a Texas-based game studio. 

With the remaining 343 Industries staff left to build upon one of the largest FPS franchises in history, and Xbox’s commitment to keeping the franchise alive, this soft reset of sorts should hopefully provide the opportunity to let Halo return to its prime.

Source: Bloomberg

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