Minutes ago, a report published by Jason Schreier in Bloomberg broke some remarkable news that has massive implications for the future of Xbox’s flagship franchise. It has been revealed by sources close to Schreier that 343 Industries plans to dramatically alter the future of Halo, essentially ‘all but starting from scratch’.
In this report, it has been suggested that late last year, a decision was made at the highest level to pivot to the Unreal Engine and put in place an all-new game code, which currently bears the project name ‘Tatanka’.
Is this massive change enough to save the floundering franchise amidst ongoing issues at 343 Industries?
Wipe The Slate Clean, Chief
Last year, Pierre Hintze took over a leadership role at 343 Industries and immediately began making changes. Reportedly, the most impactful change was to ultimately decide that Halo should pivot entirely, making use of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine technology.
Following that, Jason Schreier’s report claims that the journey towards the pivot begins with an all-new game code, which is codenamed Tatanka and apparently is being taken from a project that was originally evolving to become a battle royale game. According to the claims made by sources close to Schreier, 343 Industries was working on Tatanka with Certain Affinity, a Texas-based studio.
For several months, the Halo franchise has been journeying down a dark path, with active player numbers, viewership, and engagement falling across the board. While fans were under the assumption that the team at 343 Industries would be working on new content for Halo Infinite, it actually turned out that – allegedly – they were just trying to create new Halo concepts and tooling around with the Unreal Engine.
In the closing lines of Jason Schreier’s report, an internal email was uncovered that was circulated around 343 Industries. In this email, it’s claimed that Hintze himself plans to lead 343i in the direction of a ‘robust live offering’ backed by a ‘new tech stack’ and a Halo ecosystem that’s on ‘more platforms than ever before’.
As almost one hundred members of staff are laid off from 343 Industries and players are sent reeling by the notion that Halo Infinite is on the verge of dying, there are many who believe that this news isn’t good news.
If the old Slipspace engine – which is based on tech from the 1990s – is causing issues, could a switch to the Unreal Engine spell a new future for Halo?
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of the shutdown of Epic Games’ Rumbleverse.
