Halo Studios Unreal 5 Change

Key Takeaways

Microsoft has announced that new Halo games will run on Unreal 5 Engine.
Growing out of 343 Industries, Halo Studios plans to create two new Halo games simultaneously with cutting-edge technology.
The switch from the proprietary Slipspace engine to Unreal 5 aims to bring a new dawn for the franchise while maintaining authenticity.

As the 2024 Halo World Championship played out, Microsoft decided to gift fans of the franchise the best gift ever: a new studio would be taking over Halo, using latest-gen tech, and with a focus on the fans…

…but there’s a catch.

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The Halo community has a few ideas on what this new “experience” could be.

Yes, Halo now has a dedicated team named Halo Studios (in case you forget what they will be working on), but this is a rebranding of 343 Industries.

The biggest item on the announcement was the switch from the in-house Slipspace engine to Unreal 5, developed by Epic Games.

The announcement sparked questions about what else would be different from now on, and thankfully studio heads were there to clear the air.

The Engine Room

Studio director Pierre Hintze emphasized that this would not mean cutting ties with the 343 Industries legacy, but rather the start of a new chapter.

If you really break Halo down, there have been two very distinct chapters. Chapter 1 – Bungie. Chapter 2 – 343 Industries. Now, I think we have an audience which is hungry for more

-Pierre Hintze, Halo Studios

The transformation aims to change the pace at which Halo games come out without sacrificing development quality. To achieve this, the company had to kill its darling, the proprietary Slipspace Engine.

Slipspace hit the market with Halo Infinite in 2021, and it looks like that will be the only title for the engine‘s short life.

In the interview, COO Elizabeth van Wyck explained a common problem that development studios face today with proprietary engines.

Although these allow a bespoke development experience, this requires heavy investment to stay current, on top of longer development cycles for in-house games.

Promotional image from the Halo Infinite Operation Fleetcom announcement of two Spartans sitting at a table.

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The Halo Infinite community seems excited about the Haunted Pilot helmet but most wanted a refreshed arsenal.

Halo Studios art director Chris Matthews exemplified the situation with new rendering and lighting techniques, such as Nanite and Lumen.

Although it would be theoretically possible to create an analogous experience in Slipspace, doing so would require years of development, by which time the engine may already be outdated.

The Project Foundry Testbed

Halo Unreal 5 Project Foundry Master Chief

Before throwing good old Slipspace head-first into the woodchipper, Halo Studios needed to understand whether it was possible to make a Halo game with an authentic feel using Unreal 5.

Van Wyck says this was an unplanned necessity to “actually know we’re on the right path” with the engine change.

Project Foundry looks and feels like a tech demo, which is not bad, although the press release on the Xbox site swears that is not the case.

Hintze expects most of the work in the showcase to be used on a future Halo title.

Halo Studios is currently developing at least two Halo games simultaneously, unburdened by engine maintenance and upgrade requirements.

The focus is back on the game, which might finally bring a new dawn for the franchise.