343 Industries Unveils Official Statement On The Future Of Halo

Surely we a due a Halo Infinite campaign expansion, maybe they could prove and others wrong about their capabilities with some stunning expansion.
Also they should leave the Xbox one out of it and move forward, but that won’t happen.
Should have never included the Xbox one knowing that the plan was Halo Infinite was a 10 year plan.

Notice they said Halo and not Halo Infinite... hmmmm

This is the worst thing that could happen to this once great franchise, MS/Xbox need to get their ***** together and better manage all these studios starting with the complete shutdown of this incompetent studio.

"... including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great." 'Epic stories' is just a joke, and I don't think a non-remake 343 Halo has had 'what makes Halo great'.

The thing is someone at Xbox HQ and not 343i was not micro managing 343i and just left them to it. Halo was one of my Xbox god of games that I started with on the original Xbox.
I probably like many others was expecting such a top franchise to be managed by the top dogs at Xbox keeping an eye on things.
I was expecting Halo equivalent of what BOTW or GOW was on those consoles. I bet those games were managed very closely.
Have never trusted Xbox since and since 2022 still don’t and probably never will.

@Kaloudz wasn’t Infinite the ‘reboot’? I thought it was seen to be as such. If they’re getting another chance they need a clear vision and strong management to get it right, something they’ve not managed to do in 10 years. Infinites gameplay was good, they could build from there but I also feel they’ve had enough chances. Either way they’re continuing with it so we’ll just have to wait and see. I won’t be getting my hopes up.

I guarantee anyone that Xbox will continue to fall behind both Switch and PS5 over 2023 with the gap difference widening more than it is today.

I really really hope that they learned from the whole debacle that's Halo Infinite. From the fact they didn't know it wasn't in a launchable state until the last show before the launch of the series X, had no content ready post launch to having to actually issue this statement.... this was a massive internal failure. This must have driven changes to how they managed studios surely.

Damn that's sad news, I thought it was confirmed 😢

Roll Halo Infinite into the master chief collection and call that the long term Halo platform. Continue to create Halo campaigns but have them purchased thru the MCC.

Unpopular opinion but I'm personally happy to see 343 sticking with it. Hopefully they learned a lot from Infinite's struggles and can come back swinging.

Well, obviously Microsoft isn't going to kill their biggest franchise but this is clearly meant as a shot at anyone saying 343i isn't making good Halo games.

I think 343 has done fine as the Halo dev. The big mistake was the free to play, live service model which probably wasn't even 343's decision.

How many people are actually playing halo Infinite MultiPlayer now? My guess would be not many. 343 has had Halo for something like 10 years now and don't really have much to show for it. What makes people or even Microsoft think that they can do something big with it in the future? They've failed the franchise and the last 10 years is proof. I think Halo has had its golden days. Its time to move on. Build something new that is suited for current generation of consoles, even if it gets delivered at the end of the generation it'll be worth it. I don't think majority of the young gamers particularly care about Halo anymore.

The story is in a great place. The gameplay is in a great place. The studio isn’t. Sort things out. Tell an interesting story with the endless and return of Atriox. And properly manage content creation in mp, and Halo will return.

@Dezzy70
Consoles are an interesting world. It is one of the few products where people that buy them seem to be more concerned about their sales then playing games on them.

None of the consoles are going anywhere. Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are all making good money from their gaming divisions.

@Somebody. This right here. Im convinced they could make something that revolutionizes the genre and the 343 studios hate would never miss a beat.

@Dezzy70 I doubt there will be any campaign expansions the engine infinite uses is crap so they'll be switching to unreal engine as soon as they can which will mean a new game

“It's been a rough week for Halo”
There. That pretty much sums up the entire article.

I still think 343i can pull off a great Halo game as Infinite story was good. Specially the human side of Master Chief along with new Cortana and the Pilot. They had a good thing going on with the banished. Although I'd have liked to see Atriox as the main villain cause the little glimpse of Atriox we had was amazing. And also the game finished on a cliffhanger so I thought a DLC was on the horizon. Sad it's not. 343i has the passion they just need better coordination and a good leadership. For that I think they should experiment with smaller project with small team like Pentiment from Josh Sawyer and his handful team at Obsidian. This smaller fun project might reinvigorate the team and focus better on the bigger picture. I really appreciate the work those hardworking Devs put together for Halo Infinite. What dragged the game down was poor leadership. So hope for a better future for Halo and 343i.

@Dezzy70 can always count on seeing a post from you when there’s negativity or a perceived problem with Xbox. You’re not always wrong, but you sure do seem to take delight in it.

I'm just wondering if snickerdoodle lost her job at 343i too?

She treated Halo fans like garbage back in Halo 4 days in the Halo Waypoint forums. Then gets promoted!?! Like WTF?

She is straight garbage, total waste, big hypocrite and absolute clown. Seeing her fired make my day!

I'm just glad ID will continue to make their own games like Doom and Quake and not shoehorned onto Halo. I really like their games and it would suck to loose them. But maybe they could support studio with 343 or something, a bit like the coalition helping undead labs maybe?

@TheGrizMan
I know because I go back to day one with Xbox and grew up with them and enjoyed with them.
And sort of seen what Microsoft have made them now, which isn’t what they were back in the amazing Xbox days.

@Would_you_kindly
You are probably right, all that time and money wasted on the new engine and infinite.
It was all so promising a super Halo in an open world that could have been so much of Halo universe greatness.
How Microsoft let 343i do this is beyond belief, pure top level management neglect in my humble opinion.
They need to change Phil’s focus and direction bring him back down to grass roots at developer studios coal face.
Stop him chatting and wasting energy in interviews about negative business stuff, leave that alone to the business, say nothing.

@NeoRatt
And I’m glad all three are not going anywhere
Even if it’s just for the sake of competition, to keep each of them trying harder and better.

@somnambulance brilliant lol

Thats a shame for Halo imo. It should be the greatest IP in gaming with the pulling power of COD, but I cant see it ever gaining that status now. If ever there was a chance for microsoft to push reset on this franchise, this was its best opportunity. Downsizing a studio that already struggles to produce content is not going to solve the issues for this game, which needed some fresh creative thinking.

Halo is a solid 8 out of 10 game...as it always has been

@Chaudy
Something new like other companies?
Halo is one of the unique games in the FPS genre and atm the only one who still have the Arena feeling (not including Destiny but they have rng in it)

HALO need to stay and not move just because young players only love BR and other things.
If we all going to this route they can also stop Gears just because young players not into sci-fi.

Well Its not as if MS has to rely 'solely' on 343 to make Halo, what with owning id Software and Machine Games, as well as potentially all the A/B devs.

Whilst those other Studio's may not 'develop' the next Halo as the lead studio, they certainly could be used to help with their experience of working on FPS games. Maybe some of the 'CoD' developers who loved working on 'advanced' movement would love to have worked on Halo...

Halo won't die - even if 343 does because MS has other Studio's now that could take over or at the very least, assist as required to keep the IP going...

I liked halo infinite campaign however i though the story was poor and being stuck to one location certainly curtailed some of the epicness of halo for me.

they need outside writers to actually write a good story.

Mind you only 10% of people completed the campaign

@Dezzy70 The player base isn’t very high for me. I’ve come across the same people many times in a session. I bounce between platinum 6 and diamond 1 these days, maybe other levels have more players.

@Kaloudz They have already done 3 reboots of Halo, 4 had completely different art style and music and story focus compared to OT. Then 5 again shook things up with a different gameplay with squads, again drastic changes to art design and a very risky story idea. Next was Infinite that was a spritual-reboot and return of OT art style and music and even many plot points are reflection of Halo CE events. The constant pandering to fans and "listening" to fans is essentially what got 343 in this mess in the first place. Their only redemption would be to continue building on their MP service, release the Certain Affinity's game or game mode (Tatanka) and then continue campaign where Infinite left off.

Times change

They just released infinite too early. Should have waited till now. Look at Nintendo with Zelda, people will wait if the end product it top quality. So that’s the management at fault.

I’m unsure as to whether halo can actually get to the top again I mean do the casuals actually care? I think it would need a botw moment to get the masses interested. Something really fresh and new never been done before like combat evolved I suppose

@Dezzy70 Agreed Dez, Xbox one should have been left out. I know why it wasn’t, we all do. But that would have helped Halo infinite a ton, and made it more of a system seller. Xbox one users could have even traded their Console in on a Series S and snagged Halo for a reasonable upgrade cost. Some games and franchises don’t bother me when they are gross gen, but for some i just feel it should be on the most powerful hardware and show what the hardware can do. Trust me when i tell you i still hope they turn Halo Infinite around. I miss playing it and they got most of the gameplay right. Just making 2 maps in 1.5 years is insanely bad.

@Would_you_kindly i am excited for the switch to Unreal 5. That should get the game on track a little.

@Green-Bandit it will have to be a new game they can't just take infinite which was made using slipspace engine & switch it to unreal they'd have to completely remake the game using unreal

@Green-Bandit
Not sure with the initial 10 year plan for Halo Infinite why they included Xbox one.
At some point surely they have to drop the Xbox one support.
I think Redfall, Forza and Starfield are all series console only so at least that’s is moving forward.
Having said that FH5 was Xbox one as well and Playground games did that justice for me on the series x, but that probably is Xbox best studio or top 2 at least.

@Would_you_kindly yeah thats true, but maybe that is exactly what is needed. I am sure i would give it a try, as i think a more solid engine would have to bring improvements and of course more content. Series X is built with Unreal 5 in mind, so the hardware should be clicking out the gate with UE5. Let’s hope for the best. I’d like to see some positive news and gamer excitement around Halo.

@Dezzy70 yeah all games from Microsoft moving forward are Series Console and not One games and that is what we need and are asking for. Starfield won’t be the prettiest, due to the older engine and its scale in size. But Forza and RedFall should look pretty good and run well. I am trying to get excited about seeing more RedFall, cause i am on the fence about it. I want it to be good, would be something to play until Diablo 4 hit’s. Then i need to hear something about that Gears collection around E3 and at that point we are starting to heat up.

I don't think Halo leaving 343 is necessarily the answer, anyway. 343 is capable, but it seems from things I've read here and there they are highly disorganized with staff coming/going frequently. What they need is a consistent, smaller team with more focus from leadership.

I saw a mention of Halo going to Activision earlier in the thread. I don't think the acquisition is going to go through as it stands today. I think Activision may be split in order to complete it, with some assets sold elsewhere.

@Widey85 "evolved Halo 3"

I see what you did there.

@Xiovanni Xbox 360 was my main console during the seventh gen, and I've still never touched a Halo game, lol

@Widey85 We all saw it coming. Once the features got piecemealed out, I knew this was a disaster in the making.

MS buys all these studios and drives them into the ground. I am worried they are going to trash Activision if they get them. That said Halo has not been the same since Bungie. That was key right there, Bungie was willing to give up their IP just to get away from MS. I think MS just wants these ips and does not care about the companies they buy. We have two Xboxes and have never been so disappointed in a generation ever. The Origional Xbox and the 360 were so much fun. I do not think Starfield looks very good but we shall see. I have barely played my Xbox this generation compared to my other 3 systems and soon to add the Steam Deck. MS did a great job with Gamepass but where are the newer exclusives come on MS, I feel I am wasting my money.