Halo Studios...?

[ChunkOfWax]

oh boy...

Today, Microsoft announced Halo Studios, a re-brand of what was 343 Industries. In their blog post, they state that this is supposed to be a brand new, 3rd chapter in Halo development, with Bungie and 343 being chapters 1 and 2 respectively.

Alongside this announcement, they also announced a complete and total shift to Unreal Engine 5 for seemingly all future halo projects, completely canning the Slipspace Engine that was used for Halo Infinite. In this announcement, they also shared a few renders made in UE 5 that look pretty nice.

This is all interesting stuff. However! Imo, this most interesting part about all this is that this news coincides with a lot of interesting leaks regarding a Combat Evolved remaster... which is either good or bad news depending on who you are lol

I figured there might be a few halo nerds here that might be interested in this news. Halo has been such a controversial talking point over the past, like, decade, so I’m really interested to see what comes of this. I’ve been let down plenty of times by 343, but I’m not a total hater. They got it right a small handful of times. Gonna share a few thoughts below…

The Good?

• Even though this is still just 343, a rebrand might not be the worse idea ever. Can’t really make any conclusions about it though until we start to see what comes out of this “new studio”.
• I think a shift to Unreal 5 is a good idea. It’s crazy that they wasted as much money as they did on Slipspace, but also… Slipspace just kinda sucks lol. From my understanding, a decent amount of Infinite’s troubled development stems from Slipspace. So developing future games on an engine that most of the industry is familiar with is probably a better call. And if this means that the next halo game has better load times and runs better on my computer than Infinite does, I’m all for it. Infinite runs like piss, so I’m happy if this could alleviate similar issues in future games

The Bad?

• A CE remaster is very interesting. I don’t think remaster would be ever be able to capture the same vibe the original Halo games had. In the case of CE, so much of that games identity is based on its old ass OG xbox graphics. So, trying to do a next gen overall just won’t really be a true replacement. However! If they were to a remaster… I wouldn’t be totally opposed. If I wanted to play the original CE, I can just do that. And as it stands, the current CE remaster (CE: Anniversary) really, really sucks. And if these Unreal renders are anything to go off of, I don’t think the CE remaster would look that awful. I’ll hold my tongue on how they remaster certain environments… but I think Chief looks really good. All in all, if this remaster sucks, oh well. If it’s good, cool. Maintaining a healthy dose of cautious optimism (EDIT: upon a second glance, idk if Chief actually looks that great lol. Probably not indicative of any final product though so it’s whatever idc)

Interested to hear any thoughts anyone might have :)

 

[Super Crab Deluxe Turbo X]

the real problem with Halo is reportedly that Microsoft will rely on a lot of contractors instead of actually hiring people and also have a rule that contractors can only work for like 16 months or so. you cannot actually make a modern AAA game like that, but it costs less, so

using Unreal instead of their own engine would certainly make onboarding easier, but it's still hard to have hope unless they confirm "Halo Studios" is going to be an actual studio and not a revolving door of people

 

[ChunkOfWax]

the real problem with Halo is reportedly that Microsoft will rely on a lot of contractors instead of actually hiring people and also have a rule that contractors can only work for like 16 months or so. you cannot actually make a modern AAA game like that, but it costs less, so

using Unreal instead of their own engine would certainly make onboarding easier, but it's still hard to have hope unless they confirm "Halo Studios" is going to be an actual studio and not a revolving door of people

I’ve heard talk about that too. I guess that even if there’s a “new” studio developing Halo, there’s still the wider, systemic issue with how Microsoft/Xbox has been running their business lately. I’ve heard about how a similar contractor situation is plaguing other 1st party Xbox games, like Forza or whatever, but I can’t really speak to that

 

[DEEP.UNKNWN]

Unfortunately for them they can't make me 13 again so I don't know if I will ever be excited about new Halo. I enjoy MCC and play it for a while once a year. What made the originals so special is impossible to replicate with the how modern studies approach making games IMO

 

[Andrew]

Calling the studio itself "Halo Studios" is perhaps everything wrong with Microsoft's mentality towards videogames condensed and laid bare. There is no art here, there is IP & product- you're here for Halo! You're only here for Halo! Studios will often gravitate towards a franchise and have for a long time - see Sonic Team - but historic and established Brand Studios - also see Sonic Team for this - are allowed to experiment with other titles in a way that modern product silos are not. Who's to say if Phantasy Star Online or Nights into Dreams made the Sonic Adventure games any better, but merely being allowed to prototype and develop anything not named Halo would inherently make you a better studio and in turn allow you to make a better Halo game.

Just my two cents. Similar to what Crab said, the revolving door of contractors is also awful. It's not done anything beneficial for Microsoft's image (both to consumers or developers) and I'm shocked they keep using that policy and expecting different results.

 

[crantheman]

Similar to what Crab said, the revolving door of contractors is also awful. It's not done anything beneficial for Microsoft's image (both to consumers or developers) and I'm shocked they keep using that policy and expecting different results.

The biggest problem with Halo imo is Microsoft itself. They're wayyy too obsessed with making shareholder margins for the next calendar year that they're willing to lay off thousands of people from Activision/Blizzard. I don't know much about Halo and 343 (now Halo Studios), but I totally believe the contractor situation. It sounds like something Microsoft would do to keep costs down and revenues up.

 

[Andrew]

Here's an article about 343i specifically, but it's been documented that these short term contract crews also work on Forza as well: https://www.polygon.com/23562119/halo-infinite-343-industries-layoffs-joe-staten

 

[Mukky]

I am sick of remakes!!!!!

I will take my MGS3 remake, and that's it. we're done! No more, please stop. Halo CE doesn't need a remake, it holds up VERY well

 

[mercedes]

i am a hater of 343, they cant escape their past failures with a rebrand
halo CE doesnt need a remake and would be a total waste of resources
they should make new halo games with a fresh cast to differentiate themselves properly
also... the name is silly too imo, the name for a game studio shouldnt be tied to just 1 series

 

[ChunkOfWax]

jesus christ

Spoiler: Links to articles and gameplay lol

Halo: Campaign Evolved is a gorgeous remake that debuts on PS5 and Xbox in 2026

Halo arrives on PlayStation

www.theverge.com

 

[kevin supermarket]

oh sweet it's far cry 7 (titled far cry: no future)

 

[KeplerElectronics]

Models all look pretty good, but this is pretttttty much the final nail in the coffin for xbox as a hardware brand.

 

[Scott]

close enough welcome back demon's souls remake

 

[Andrew]

close enough welcome back demon's souls remake

Yeah this is exactly how I feel. Initially I was a bit more positive until I went and actually did some comparisons... and like, this carries none of the artistic intent or design of the original at all. The magic's just gone.

 

[ChunkOfWax]

The more I think about it and dwell on it, the more baffling and hilarious it becomes for me. Like, I could not imagine a worse move to try and win back the goodwill of fans lmao. Or even introduce new fans. It’s just so, so strange and out of touch

Spoiler: Gamer ramblings lol

It’s a broad generalization to make, but some remakes and parts of remake culture leave a bad taste in my mouth, because I feel as though some remakes of games are no different than the Disney live action remakes, for instance, if that makes sense. At least on principle. It’s just rehashing something beloved, removing what originally made it appealing, and dressing it up as “new” for a modern audience. (It’s more nuanced than that, cause some games become less accessible over time, unlike most other mediums, and blah blah blah, you get it)

This CE remake leaves a similar nasty feeling for me. But imo, I think what especially stinks is how, not only is the creative direction totally bastardized, but it also suffers from the same issues a lot of long running franchises/creative works end up running into. That being, the franchise starts drawing less and less inspiration from what originally inspired in the first place, and instead starts drawing inspiration from itself. It starts cannibalizing itself in search for new ideas, until it inevitably ends up making something totally redundant and lacking. This isn’t a Halo: CE drawing inspiration from the novels and movies and stuff that originally inspired CE. It’s just Halo inspired by Halo. Specifically, drawing inspiration from the weird identity and amalgam of ideas that has become modern Halo. Hence the clean and triangular forerunner structures, the reuse of assets from Infinite, the “modernization” of gun sounds etc. etc.

I didn’t have high hopes to begin with, so I’m not really disappointed tbh. Don’t take this rant as an impassioned and upset one lol. As someone who grew up in an Xbox household, I just find it really, really fascinating. A new Halo CE remake, that may arguably be worse than the other time they tried to remake it, releasing on PS5 is just the kind of thing that sounds like a joke until it’s real

 

[Andrew]