According to a new post on LinkedIn, industry veteran Chris Matthews is now a Studio Art Director at 343 Industries.
Matthews has been a lead artist and art director for years. They previously worked at Ridgeline Games, Turn 10 Studios, Crytek, and more.
This involved popular titles like Forza Motorsport, the Gears of War franchise, and Crysis.
Matthews’ announcement mentions that they “couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to help lead Halo into a very exciting new era.”
This comment supports last month’s reports, which hinted that 343 Industries has had another Halo project in the works since April 2022.
Halo Infinite still has fairly strong ratings on Metacritic, despite mixed reviews on Steam. Still, some fans hoped for a different studio to take over.
343 Industries did add some divisive changes to the series, over the years. And Halo Infinite launched without some of the central features that Halo fans are accustomed to.
It’s unclear if Matthews is referring to a different direction when they mention an “exciting new era”. But Matthews has proven very capable on previous titles. Their influence could potentially help shake things up.
Last month, 343 Industries discontinued new seasons for Halo Infinite. Now, the game will rely on smaller scale ‘Operations’ updates. So, the studio is clearly interested in moving forward.
Matthews stated that earning their new position “was a culmination of over a decades work, learning and growth as an Art Director”.
Matthews’ announcement also mentions the “hugely turbulent industry”. This is a respectful nod to the painful layoffs that continue to affect so many studios this year.
Recently, Matthews actually worked at Microsoft, which laid off 1,900 employees in its video game workforce last month.
For more of the latest gaming news, you can read about Final Fantasy 8’s director discussing big changes for a hypothetical remake.
