Reports have claimed for nearly two years that 343 Industries is ready to abandon its Slipspace Engine in favor of transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, and this has now been officially confirmed. Not only have the studios renamed themselves to Halo Studios, but it has been announced that all future Halo games will be built on Unreal Engine 5.
As Elizabeth van Wick, Chief Operating Officer at Halo Studios, explained, continuing to work with Slipspace would not allow the studio to work in the way the team wants to move forward. She said:
“The way we made Halo games in the past doesn’t necessarily work the way we want to make games in the future. So part of the conversation we had was about how to help the team focus on making games, as opposed to making tools and engines.”
It’s not just about the time it takes to release the game to market, but about the time it takes to update the game, provide new content for players, and adapt to what our players want. Part of that is [how the game is built], but the other part is hiring. How long does it take someone to intensify to be able to create assets that appear in your game?”
(Note: Halo Studios – formerly known as 343 Industries – was one of several Xbox studios affected by the mass layoffs in January 2023, which saw more than 10,000 jobs cut across Microsoft).
Chris Matthews, Chief Technical Officer at Halo Studios, added:
“Respectfully, some components of the Slipspace engine are around 25 years old. While 343 was continuously developing it, there are aspects of Unreal that Epic has been developing for some time, which are not available to us in Slipspace – and it would have taken immense time and resources to try to add them to our engine.”
“One of the core things we care about is growing our world and expanding it so players can interact with more things and experience more. Nanite and Lumen [Unreal’s display and lighting technologies] give us the opportunity to do this in a way that the industry has never seen before. As artists, it’s extremely exciting work.”
Interestingly, the switch to Unreal by Halo Studios did not come out of nowhere. The studio spent the last two years on Project Foundry, an expansive technical demo built on Unreal Engine 5, which is described as “a real reflection of what is required for a new Halo game using Unreal, and a training tool on how to get there.” Apparently, the technical demo “was designed with the same precision, process, and dedication that will be in the charged game.”
Project Foundry includes three vibrant areas entirely designed by Halo Studios. One is inspired by the Pacific Northwest, the other called Coldlands is described as “a region trapped in deep frost,” while the third, Blightlands, is “a world consumed by the parasitic deluge.” You can see footage from Project Foundry below.
Interestingly, according to Halo Studios, the work done in Project Foundry may ultimately end up in future games. Chief Technical Officer Chris Matthews said:
“Where this kind of work has historically been done across the industry, it can contain a lot of smoke and mirrors. It sometimes leads players down paths they think will be one thing, and then something else happens. The spirit of Foundry is the complete opposite.”
“Everything we have built is based on the kind of standards we need to build for the future of our games. We were very deliberate about not getting into the tech showoff area. We built things we truly believe in, and the content we built – or at least a good portion of it – can move anywhere within our games in the future if we choose to.”
Speaking of that, Halo Studios confirmed that they are currently working on multiple new Halo games.