Layoffs in Halo would be linked to the switch to Unreal Engine

A few days ago, we announced that 343 Industriesthe company behind Halo, had lost almost a third of all its employees. While it raised suspicions that Microsoft might ultimately cancel development of Halo, the company quickly ruled that the saga will stay alive.

Now, new industry reports allege that a portion of these layoffs are tied to the future development of Halo under a new graphics engine. This is none other than the popular Unreal Engine. if we think that Halo Infinite debuted as a pure meme Due to its low visual quality, it is clear that something like this will not happen with the change of engine.

The future of Halo will be linked to the most popular graphics engine in the industry: Unreal Engine

Or at least so claimed the Bloomberg newspaper. As indicated, the new main developer at 343 Industries made this decision as soon as he arrived at the company at the end of 2022. Specifically, both Bonnie Ross, head of the studio, and David Berger, head of the graphics engine, left the company. . Pierre Hintze was the replacement and the one who decided that Halo deserved to take a major leap forward. For this, nothing better than to replace the company’s proprietary engine, the Slipspace, by the Unreal Engine. This graphics engine is well known not only for its visual quality, but also by the ease that is offered when creating a game.

The main reason for ditching Halo’s Slipspace engine is for some pretty compelling reasons. To begin with, it is indicated that it is mostly built with old code from the 90s and early 2000s. In addition, he stated that it was a headache to bring the current Halo Infinite to life. All of these problems will disappear with the Unreal Engine, along with the support of Certain Affinity, longtime collaborators in Halo development.

After those responsible for 343 Industries have repeatedly described Halo Infinite as a platform for “next 10 years of Halo“, the Bloomberg report indicates that there are no new campaEsports Extrasmissions or expansions in development.

According to Bloomberg sources, “the developers were prototyping on the Unreal Engine and pitching ideas for new Halo games instead of working on new missions for Halo InfiniteThe report adds that many of those developers were laid off in the recent cutbacks and, for now, only Infinite multiplayer is still being worked on.

What can we expect from this change of graphics engine?

From what we know, there’s a graphics engine change, and Halo Infinite doesn’t look like it’s going to get any new content, at least in the short term. This could imply a “rework” and redo the game under a new graphics engine. Or just keep your multiplayer alive until a future title arrives that it does offer what was really expected of Halo Infinite. Although now built entirely under a graphics engine with all the technological advances in the industry.

According to the leaks, we would actually be facing a new game known as “Project TatankaThis one would have a heavy emphasis on multiplayer, but then again, focused on Battle Royale. A gaming niche that has turned out to be popular and not just a fad. Proof of this is in Call of Duty or, without going too far, Fortnite itself. It is clear that we will have to wait for an official announcement from 343 Industries to know the future of Halo.