Halo is moving to Unreal Engine

Over the weekend at the 2024 Halo World Championship, Xbox revealed the new direction of Halo and its studio.

In a six-and-a-half-minute video, it was announced that 343 Industries is being rebranded to Halo Studios, and Halo is moving to Unreal Engine.

The video features much of the team from Halo Studios as they justify the changes and share their passion for Halo.

“Halo Infinite was the last remnant of how we made Halo games in the past, that was our recipe, and what we’re doing right now, we are changing the recipe.”

Pierre Hintze

Over the last couple of years, Halo Studios has embarked on a project called “Project Foundry” to prove using Unreal Engine was the right call, and to prove their processes are ready to produce a Video Game, of which they have confirmed there are multiple of in production.

You can tell from the video that the people who work at Halo Studios are passionate, but if you want more info on the changes beyond the video, I recommend taking a look at the companion Xbox Wire article.

What is clear is that, yes, it’s Halo games – plural – in development right now. Where Halo Infinite saw practically the entire studio focused on a single, evolving project, Halo Studios has recalibrated:

“We had a disproportionate focus on trying to create the conditions to be successful in servicing Halo Infinite,” says Hintze. “[But switching to Unreal] allows us to put all the focus on making multiple new experiences at the highest quality possible.”

No dates or timelines have been given for new games, but it does seem like the whole of Halo Studios is heading in the same focused direction, hopefully this is the shake up that’s needed to push Halo into the future.