Following rumors and hypothesis that 343 Industries has been booted from the Halo franchise, the developer has come out and issued a press release. They aren’t going wherever.
“343 Industries will proceed to develop Halo now and sooner or later, together with epic tales, multiplayer, and extra of what makes Halo nice,” studio head Pierre Hintze stated in a succinct assertion on social media.
The assertion follows information that Microsft had laid off 10,000 workers, a few of which included Xbox Sport Studios, The Coalition, 343 Industries and Bethesda. Rumors then began spreading that 343 Industries has been faraway from energetic improvement on any Halo titles and could be relegated to easily sustaining the sport’s engine and overseeing third-party studios that might develop any new titles.
There have been additionally rumors that each one story-based DLC for Halo Infinite has been canceled. Whereas 343’s assertion doesn’t tackle the way forward for Halo Infinite, it appears the developer will nonetheless be the developer of future Halo initiatives. That’s to not say exterior third social gathering studios received’t be concerned, although.
343 Industries has been overseeing the Halo franchise since its formation 2007. The studio has beforehand labored with Bungie on Halo: Attain earlier than Bungie break up with Microsoft. 343 Industries launched Halo: Fight Advanced Anniversary and Halo 4, the latter of which was the beginning of the studio’s “Reclaimer Saga” of the mainline video games.
It’s been a tumultuous run for 343 Industries. And their improvement struggles got here to a head with Halo Infinite, a sport that was meant to be the tentpole title for the Xbox Collection X|S however was delayed quite a few instances. Finally, Halo Infinite’s multiplayer ended up delivery individually from the marketing campaign, which was launched a couple of month after.
Regardless of principally constructive critiques, Halo Infinite’s bumpy trip was nicely documented, with the developer receiving backlash for its controversial E3 2020 demo, the unpopular authentic Battle Move and development system, and the cancellation of split-screen co-op. Finally, it come all the way down to Halo now not feeling just like the must-play sport on Xbox. That’s unacceptable for a franchise that was as soon as thought to be among the best sequence of all-time.