Halo Enters 'New Dawn' With New Studio Name, Engine And Games

Phase 1: Bungie before they snapped the cord
Phase 2: Number Two.
Phase 3: Rebrand and outsource!

This is pretty exciting ngl, failed leadership from the very top is gone now, so this new direction have the chance to actually deliver on something special.

The Halo CE remake now makes sense as it’ll allow the studio to familiarize with UE5 and getting to re-learn how to make a great Halo game, if they manage to launch it with the next Xbox it’d be a huge W.

Like, obviously Unreal looks good, but it's also reaching the saturation point where everything is looking very same-y too. It's hard to be as excited for games that look like every other game.

You're never better then your last game, so a good/bad game by a studio named 343i won't be more or less successful then one made by a studio named Halo Studios. 🤷‍♂️ But I guess you got to keep those PR people busy somehow.

UE is a great, versatile, engine. But it seems to takes a lot of work to make it not look and feel "same-y" as other UE games. I wish them luck and hope they can pull it off.

I've been a halo fan from the first time it came but it has gotten stale over the years so this news sounds exciting but only time will tell hopefully they do it right !

Give us a true John and Cortana love story!!

The pessimist in me says the rebranding was done purely to get past the rancid stench that the name 343 carried. I'll hold off on any claims until seeing a proper game, but I sure hope this isn't just a desperate Hail Mary toss.

@Branovices Hi-Fi Rush was done on Unreal. Fortnite is basically UE's flagship game now and it's a very cartoony game. It's up to the devs, but looking at just these samples shows it can be done. So long as devs don't lean into the default textures that come with UE..

This is great news I think. I hope more resources lead to releases with more content on day one.

@Elbow More than studio’s name the big news here is the switch to Unreal, now every new dev coming to the studio won’t have to spend months trying to get to know the engine and then getting to work on the games themselves, of course it’s a wait and see situation, but for the first time things are looking differently than in the last 10 years.

This will lead to the death of Halo in my opinion.

UE5 has immense shader stutter issues and there is barely any game that isn't affected.

Hogwarts legacy, Jedi Survivor, etc

Halo needs ultra smooth gameplay for multiplayer that UE5 won't be able to deliver.

Particularly on PC where Gamepass is becoming dominant.

When the game comes out and has performance issues, gamers will remember and sales for the next Halo afterwards will get hit.

Poor engine choice.

Very poor.

This is great news for a change for this franchise and Xbox in general. With having collation and I.D in house, there is loads of talent on using UE5 a phone call or video chat away. Need help finishing some projects they can assist. Not likely with slip space. This is exciting for the franchise. Getting this back to a flagship game is the right mindset here. Wow that next Xbox launch is about to be good i believe. You just know they want a Halo game there.

@Dsswoosh You really think UE5 can’t deliver smooth gameplay for multiplayer?
Just take a look at Fortnite running at 120 FPS, being on several platforms (literally every one) and even achieving 60 FPS on Switch, with proper optimization it can have rock solid performance for a generation to come.

I'll believe things changed when we see it. Halo CE is a very unique FPS even in it's own series, and they didn't get it right the first time with the Anniversary Edition. And considering each of 343i's entries feel less Halo with each game, currently it feels redundant to make new games now that Microsoft owns CoD.

I really hope for their sake it's not just for PR, because changing a company's name doesn't fool people anymore when any Google search about Halo Studios will show it still says '343i' under the new sticker.

@shoeses We won't really get an idea until we see their first trailer. Honestly (John and Cortana love story aside) I really want Halo to return to the Sci-Fi-Horror Space Zombies and Band of Brothers mix that made the first 2 Halos (and the first half of Halo 3) such an amazing and unique experience. Some games do Sci-Fi Horror really well, others do Military Drama well, but Halo had moments where it did both.

This is more like it.
I called it the other day in another thread.
They will remake HALO CE for Xbox next console and it will release day one of the new console.

The engine isn't the problem with the games and making it a bit prettier in Unreal isn't going to solve those. At least Unreal Engine is famous for its great stutter free performance...............

The Unreal-ening of the gaming industry is its downfall.

Every game made in Unreal is the same ugly, washed out greyish sludge with its same preset default lighting engine. You can tell a game is running on UE INSTANTLY with 1 second of gameplay footage. And it sucks. The performance is terrible too. And games only suffer from using it.

Hopefully good news for the next Halo, a new engine and a rebranded developer could be a good reset to build something great upon. I really want some Halo games as good as the ones we used to have 🥲

Not a big Halo fan but this seems to be something to give Halo fans a small bit of hope for the future. Even as a non Halo fan its interesting enough to keep an eye on at the very least.

Good luck to them on the next game.

I still think we will see more rebranding across Xbox

Let's hope this is the new start needed in the rise of what has been such an exceptional game in the past.
Its too big an IP to leave dormant and 343 have shown they cannot get the buzz this title needed, so this change is needed and welcome.
I get the concerns of moving to UE5, but the look of the game can still be unique as long as they take the time to ensure it is.
It will free up more resource to spend more time working on bespoke systems for the game without having to develop an engine to keep pace.
It's a shame we will have to wait a while to see the fruits of this, but if it results in this once great title being universally enjoyed again, then that's a wait I'm more than prepared to take. Fingers crossed.

The coalition are big unreal 5 users and the next gears is of course U5.
So also hopefully some cross studio ideas and lessons etc.

@Dsswoosh @BIG3 no amount of resources will fix a rebranded had zero of any them problems maybe first day or so update comes out fixed. Unless like survivor it came out needed a lot of fixes . Wgich is not Ue5s fault its the incompetent devs or studios thsg think release briken fix over time

I wonder whether this 'new direction' will include releasing future Halo's on the PlayStation? With the particular focus on multiplayer in the game, it kind of make sense to seek a wider audience. For me, the game is all about the campaign as I don't touch the multiplayer, but I do understand the need for a thriving, and large, multiplayer community, so I can see a reasoned argument for it going to the PlayStation too, even though I firmly believe that as Microsoft steadily sheds exclusives, it will equally shed Xbox console gamers too.

When it comes to multiplatform, I'm sure these decisions are not made lightly (except by the moneymen, who's only religion is cash!), but I'm also not sure that the right decisions are being made...

I’d also imagine UE5 will make it easier to port to PlayStation.

I think this increases the possibility of that rumoured Halo 1 remake for PS5 being real.

Swapping to UE5 is huge and still not as big of a deal as getting a Halo game with Pierre Hintze at the helm. Things are truly looking up.

Hi-Fi Rush and Fortnite have their own unique look and feel so hopefully this Halo CE reboot looks and feels like HALO.

They need to make this a launch game on the next Xbox and it also needs to come to PlayStation.

Bring Gears and Forza too please as multi player games needs as many players as possible....keep single player games as exclusive.

Just an opinion so don't kill me for it.

Make this game to show the full capacity of the series X (2)

There is no doubt now that 343 is and always will be the halo studio. They deserve it. They knocked it out of the park with infinite. I love that game so much.

Finally they confirmed the rumors. Hope the excuses for making Halo games are gone by this.

@themightyant Actually, one of the biggest issues is that its 'OLD' at its core and its been modified, tweaked and added to over many, many years that its not efficient or easy to understand where the issues are - is it some 'Legacy' code that's causing some issue or is it some tweak, some new component etc.

When you spend 'years' updating, modifying and or rebuilding Game engines, you are NOT creating 'new' games, not focussing on Development. It can actually impact development if the dev team are waiting on the tech team to find a way to add Real time GI that doesn't clash or be too resource heavy.

Slipspace is also a 'bespoke' engine that's only used for Halo - so is it worth spending years on building a 'new' Slipspace to alleviate 'Legacy' issues or even trying to rebuild the old one when only 1 Studio can and will use it? UE5 at least has its own tech support too and of course Many more Devs, inc their own Studio's, with Experience in developing games in UE5 who can help - the Coalition are the 'go to' in Xbox as UE5 experts.

All that means is that the Studio can focus on Game Development instead of also being a 'tech' company building and/or modifying their own game engine before they can 'develop' the game as some features or graphical design may well be limited by the engine...

@cornholio005 I dont understand anything you wrote.

@BIG3 thats ok not everyone does

I actually really loved Halo 4, Halo 5, and Halo Infinite, so losing the 343 Studios name is a big bummer for me. I understand why they’re doing it, but I don’t have to like it.

@themightyant I'm sorry if I misunderstood - I know that you were also advocating the change in engine, but I wouldn't say the biggest reason was the fact that Staff wouldn't have to spend time training staff to use their bespoke engine - some staff may still need training on UE5 for example.

The biggest reason is that they inherited an 'old' engine as a Design Studio and are not a 'tech' studio, don't want to spend time, money and whatever resources are required to update or rebuild that Engine when it also doesn't generate any income - its not being used by 'others' to warrant the time/money for example.

Its the same with Cyberpunk Red who likely spent a LOT of time and Money on building and updating their own engine. That's time and Money they could be investing in actual Game Development. Sometimes Game Development can 'stall' or even be halted completely until the 'engine' can be updated or modified successfully to achieve the desired result.

I'd argue the Biggest reason was more the cost and issues of making their own Game Engine that is 'only' going to be used by that Studio. They are 'expected' to be developers making a Game, not tech experts building a Game Engine. If you have spend 2-3yrs trying to update and/or bolt on new features/tech, eradicating bugs/technical issues etc, that impacts heavily on their Game development.

Obviously H:I was an example of the Problem - they were trying to build Slipstream whilst also trying to Make H:I but the 'legacy' code and so many tweaks, mods and updates to that old engine made trouble shooting and upgrading a real challenge - hence H:I was still such a long way from 'ready' for launch. Then when they needed 'support' staff to polish and help with the development, they had issues with those staff understanding and being able to use that engine...

A lot of issues came from Bungie and how they'd 'patch' or fix something - it was 'quick' fixes that later on would cause problems in future development. Now 25yrs later, some of those have caused no end of issues for the Dev team who aren't 'tech' experts and were only meant to make a game.

As I said, the biggest reason is that they are a game 'studio' meant to be making Games, not a tech company building a Game Engine for Licensed use where they can make money on that time, effort etc.

Universal engines, even if they are only used 'internally' across their own studios, have advantages too - even if their 'group' of Studio games have that common look, feel etc - a good example would be the RE Engine for Capcom.

However, it doesn't make sense if only 1 studio and one game uses that and it is detrimental to the development. H:I and its development is a great example of why that 'engine' was detrimental - too much time and money was spent on trying to modernise that engine to do things UE5 (or others) do with much better results. That then had a knock on effect to the games developers, then when it was clear they needed 'outside' help and required another delay, even with features now excluded from launch (co-op cancelled altogether after launch), outsiders struggled with that engine and its quirks. Therefore the only rational thing to do is to make the Studio a 'game making' studio with more 'universal' Game Engine so they can focus on making Games, not tech first, and if they need more staff or support, there is a wealth of opportunities...

@themightyant I'm sorry if I misunderstood - I know that you were also advocating the change in engine, but I wouldn't say the biggest reason was the fact that Staff wouldn't have to spend time training staff to use their bespoke engine - some staff may still need training on UE5 for example.

The biggest reason is that they inherited an 'old' engine as a Design Studio and are not a 'tech' studio, don't want to spend time, money and whatever resources are required to update or rebuild that Engine when it also doesn't generate any income - its not being used by 'others' to warrant the time/money for example.

Its the same with Cyberpunk Red who likely spent a LOT of time and Money on building and updating their own engine. That's time and Money they could be investing in actual Game Development. Sometimes Game Development can 'stall' or even be halted completely until the 'engine' can be updated or modified successfully to achieve the desired result.

I'd argue the Biggest reason was more the cost and issues of making their own Game Engine that is 'only' going to be used by that Studio. They are 'expected' to be developers making a Game, not tech experts building a Game Engine. If you have spend 2-3yrs trying to update and/or bolt on new features/tech, eradicating bugs/technical issues etc, that impacts heavily on their Game development.

Obviously H:I was an example of the Problem - they were trying to build Slipstream whilst also trying to Make H:I but the 'legacy' code and so many tweaks, mods and updates to that old engine made trouble shooting and upgrading a real challenge - hence H:I was still such a long way from 'ready' for launch. Then when they needed 'support' staff to polish and help with the development, they had issues with those staff understanding and being able to use that engine...

A lot of issues came from Bungie and how they'd 'patch' or fix something - it was 'quick' fixes that later on would cause problems in future development. Now 25yrs later, some of those have caused no end of issues for the Dev team who aren't 'tech' experts and were only meant to make a game.

As I said, the biggest reason is that they are a game 'studio' meant to be making Games, not a tech company building a Game Engine for Licensed use where they can make money on that time, effort etc.

Universal engines, even if they are only used 'internally' across their own studios, have advantages too - even if their 'group' of Studio games have that common look, feel etc - a good example would be the RE Engine for Capcom.

However, it doesn't make sense if only 1 studio and one game uses that and it is detrimental to the development. H:I and its development is a great example of why that 'engine' was detrimental - too much time and money was spent on trying to modernise that engine to do things UE5 (or others) do with much better results. That then had a knock on effect to the games developers, then when it was clear they needed 'outside' help and required another delay, even with features now excluded from launch (co-op cancelled altogether after launch), outsiders struggled with that engine and its quirks. Therefore the only rational thing to do is to make the Studio a 'game making' studio with more 'universal' Game Engine so they can focus on making Games, not tech first, and if they need more staff or support, there is a wealth of opportunities...

My impression is, same people, different name. The whole halo problem is 343i, this is not fixing it at all.

Granted, I'm probably one of the few thought halo 4 multiplayer was awesome! That is the ONLY halo multiplayer I've ever played for hundreds of hours. Big team battle deathmatch the best halo experience I've ever had. Ever.

@Dsswoosh So what engine are you suggesting they use?

@The-Chosen-one Doubt they will be able to. Series S (2) will hold another generation back yet again. Unless Microsoft finally learned from its mistakes.

Very unlikely.

@Elbow Hifi Rush was made on UE? That's actually crazy. It doesn't look like any other unreal game I've seen.

@Bigmanfan Indeed! Here is a video where the director of the game speaks on prototyping using UE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0oGNrfVCEE

But of course you can check other areas for sources, or even boot the game up to get that ol' UE logo.

@Elbow That's awesome. Gotta add that vid to the good ol' watch later. Thanks!

@GuyinPA75

Oeh i hope they dont go that road again.. with another series S (2)

@HonestHick The plan was for a new Halo game at this gen's launch too. They did the same thing in 2018, talking engine improvements and lots of PR fluff.
Slimy Phil even said he couldn't wait for everyone to see the gameplay that was about to be revealed. THIS gameplay reveal was the biggest disaster in gaming history for the Halo franchise.

Think about it, ALL they did was show the game..... and that ended up being the problem. Fool you once, shame on them, fool you multiple times, shame on you.

"Loads of talent on using UE5". Are you for real??? Those devs are busy making their own games that are taking half decades to come out. And this game will be coming to series s like Infinite is on Xbone. They can't make a new game in 2028, for a platform with a console install base of zero.

@andrewsqual i totally agree the Halo infinite reveal was mishandled. No way around that. I am also happy to see loads of those people at 343 no longer working or directing Halo. They are gone, and Halo Studios is looking for new talent for their 3 projects for the franchise all running on UE5. Of course they have to prove it. But i for sure think the plan is to have a Halo game in November 2026 for the anniversary and launch of the next gen Xbox. This has been talked about already by insiders. Have to wait and see what they got. But this is a new era for Halo, Bungie era gone and now thankfully 343 era gone and yes i am for real the talent at MS running UE5 is among the best talent in the industry. So that knowledge and helping hand is very valuable to have within a phone call away. Some might even take jobs for the Halo team. So this change was very wise and should allow them to find extra hands much easier. I am liking what i see with this change. Now it’s time to go prove it.

As for Zero install base, the game would launch on PC as well. Seems like more than a zero install base. Also MS needs to give players a reason to buy the new Xbox and a shiny well made Halo game is just the ticket. It will only grow in player size on GP and more and more come into that platform. Come on you know how this works better than that.