Hannan Mundia 
New Halo games are reportedly coming, but not from longtime series steward 343 Industries.
Halo has been Microsoft’s flagship IP since the days of the first Xbox when Bungie was still developing its titles. From 2010 onwards, Microsoft’s 343 Industries started working on the games in the Halo franchise, including Halo 4 and Infinite. 343’s recent attempts to bring Halo to the spotlight haven’t been successful, and a leaker claims that the studio’s role in developing titles for the franchise is changing.
With 343 Industries’ reported new role are some major changes in the franchise itself. This includes new Halo games from new studios.
343 Industries reportedly pulled off Halo development, moved to a supervisory role
343 Industries will reportedly supervise the development of new Halo games instead of producing them.
This information comes from X user BathrobeCast, who accurately revealed information about past Halo titles including Halo Infinite. The podcaster claims that 343 went from about 500 employees to around 280. Due to the studio losing employees through immense layoffs, it is now moving toward outsourcing development. They say since March 2024, 30% of the company’s staff has been working on game production, while the rest are in different roles.
The source claims 343 will work more during the concept and pre-production phases. Other studios will do the actual development and production under 343’s supervision. This decision, in addition to the layoffs, is likely because of Halo Infinite’s poor reception.
According to the podcaster, while the game performed well enough to warrant features being added over time, it wasn’t successful enough for the studio to start working on new things. This follows ex-343 staff discussing scrapped projects like a Halo battle royale.
Are any new Halo games coming out?
There are reportedly two Halo games in pre-production, with one of them being focused on PvP gameplay.
BathrobeCast stated that two partnered studios have contracts to work on the two projects. One of them focuses more on PvP with a larger scale of combat. Details regarding the second game are unknown.
One of the projects is likely the next entry in the Halo franchise, while the other might be a remake or spin-off. The next main entry might be the title focusing on a large-scale PvP mode, which Halo Infinite didn’t have. A larger PvP mode was one of the many features that were promised for Halo Infinite that never materialized.
Since both titles are under pre-production, fans will likely have to wait quite a bit before getting even a teaser trailer. These projects might launch on the next generation of Xbox consoles and PCs, assuming Microsoft doesn’t kill off the brand before then.
