Halo Infinite is said to not receive more campaign content as expected
Blogger Bathrobe Spartan , who specializes in the Halo franchise , shared information from his insiders on the future of the long-suffering studio 343 Industries . And it doesn’t look very rosy.
This week it became known that a wave of layoffs swept through Microsoft , which also affected the video game wing of the company. In particular, the reductions hit the 343 Industries studio, which was developing the Halo universe. This should come as no surprise, as a team heavily funded has once again failed to bring to market the viable product that Microsoft needed.
About a third of 343 Industries’ employees have left their jobs, according to Bathrobe Spartan. This applies not only to the internal team, but also to external contractors.
In addition, the goals and objectives assigned to the studio were revised. In 2023, Microsoft plans to focus exclusively on the development of Halo Infinite ‘s multiplayer , which includes new content seasons, a Battle Royale mode , support for the Forge constructor mode , and a casual mode codenamed Tatanka .
The studio has abandoned plans to release several small story additions for the main Infinite campaign. Creative director Joseph Staten worked on the initiative with a small team, but after the departure of Bonnie Ross from the post of head of the studio, the plan was abandoned, considering it too difficult in terms of implementation and not having financial prospects. As a result , Staten himself left the studio .
According to Microsoft’s senior management, the release of Halo Infinite, in principle, was unsuccessful, because the goals set for the developers (including financial ones) were not achieved. As a result, 343 Industries will no longer actively develop new games, definitively becoming the coordinator of the franchise. This can still be called a happy outcome, because initially there was information that the team had completely exhausted its credibility, and it was planned to transfer the once flagship brand to another studio.
According to the new strategy, the next games in the Halo universe will be developed by external partner studios. In principle, this has already happened with the multiplayer Infinite. Certain Affinity is responsible for the new multiplayer modes, SkyBox Labs is responsible for supporting the Forge, Sperasoft is responsible for creating maps and in-game content.
Contracting work began back in 2020, and partners will be allowed to release more diverse games and with smaller budgets. As for the graphics engine Slipspace Engine , it is planned to be opened for study by partner studios if they want to work with this technology. This is a rather strange decision, since even many internal Microsoft studios are actively moving to Unreal Engine 5.
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