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343 Industries “will continue to develop Halo now and in the future,” says studio head Pierre Hintze. The statement was released in response to rumours that 343 would instead take a backseat on future Halo games by serving to manage external studios, rather than developing the games themselves as they had on Halo Infinite.
“Halo and Master Chief are here to stay,” begins the short statement shared on Twitter. “343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great.”
We didn’t report on the rumours and I won’t link them now, because as far as I can tell they lacked any credibility and no reputable site shared them. Alas, they were spreading far enough to prompt an official denial, so here we are.
This past week, Microsoft announced they would lay off 10,000 staff, including employees at several of their development studios. Halo Infinite developers 343 Industries were among those affected, prompting several former 343 Industries staff to criticise Microsoft’s decision-making and the way in which it hurt Halo Infinite’s development. 343 Industries creative director Joe Staten, who joined the studio in 2020 to help ship Infinite, was also announced as leaving to re-join the Xbox publishing team.
All of which has prompted a lot of discussion and speculation about the future of Halo.
Halo Infinite has plenty to recommend it, but its release has felt piecemeal, with singleplayer and multiplayer releasing separately, co-op coming a year later, and a handful of features being cut along the way. Its post-release seasonal content/battle pass has also failed to capture players’ imaginations. The recently added Forged mode is good, though.