Multiple Halo games are in development using Unreal Engine 5

Microsoft revealed that “multiple” Halo games are currently being developed on Unreal Engine 5 with 343 Industries having been renamed Halo Studios and shelving its own Slipspace Engine in favor of Epic Games’ product.

Chris Matthews, the art director at Halo Studios, explained on Xbox Wire that UE5 has certain capabilities that would have taken “huge amounts of time and resources to try and replicate” in Slipspace. Not having to maintain and advance an engine alongside games will result in higher development speeds for the franchise, something Microsoft seems to be putting a focus on – more content with shorter waiting periods is the watchword.

“It’s not just about how long it takes to bring a game to market, but how long it takes for us to update the game, bring new content to players, adapt to what we’re seeing our players want,” Halo Studios COO Elizabeth van Wyck said.

Halo Studios’ experimentation with UE5, internally known as Project Foundry, is the source of the screenshots and clips shown to the public in accompaniment of this announcement – it’s worth noting that Foundry is not an upcoming Halo game, but rather a demonstration of capabilities. Halo Studios has apparently been coordinating closely with Epic Games on the project to learn the ropes of UE5 and extract the best results from the infrastructure.

“It’s fair to say that our intent is that the majority of what we showcased in Foundry is expected to be in projects which we are building, or future projects,” studio head Pierre Hintze said.

Still, the team was quick to emphasize that those brand-new Halo games are not coming out any time soon and Halo Infinite, the franchise’s current iteration, will be supported with new content for the time being – it’s early days for the new chapter of the series.

However, the fact that Microsoft now went public with all this information should be regarded as a good sign: It means that the engine switch has been going well and that the restructuring of how the studio works – which apparently included organizational changes that gave more authority to the developers themselves – is completed.

For now, Halo fans will be able to enjoy Halo Infinite and its many player-created modes, such as a Halo x Helldivers 2 mash-up.