It seems the fallout from Halo Infinite has had a extreme affect on developer 343 Industries, as its future with the franchise is introduced into query.
Some ex-employees at 343 have blamed Xbox management for the game’s failure, shortly after the team was affected by mass layoffs in 2023. Last year, known Halo insider Bathrobe Spartan suggested 343 was set to be taken off ‘active development’ of the Halo franchise entirely, as it pivots to overseeing work by other third party studios.
That same insider has now shared a new thread on Twitter, about the situation at 343, where he outlines how the studio has been downsized significantly over the past year.
According to Bathroom Spartan, who spoke to 12 ex-employees from 343, there are less than 280 people working at the studio as of May 2024, with roughly ’50 to 60 people let go’ on top of the prior layoffs.
Of those left, only 30% are apparently still working on projects related to game content production, with the rest mainly being ‘business orientated roles and producers’. It’s said the majority of employees have been working on other Xbox studio titles over the past year, with the most Halo Infinite content being handled by contracted studios.
This is said to be reflective of a ‘new production method’ at 343. According to the insider, the studio is now hiring lead positions to manage the concept and pre-production phases on future games, but it will outsource the actual work to other studios – something 343 did with Halo Wars 2 and developer Creative Assembly.
It’s claimed two tasks are already underway with two contracted studios, however each are nonetheless within the pre-production part. One is described as a ‘PvP greater scale oriented venture’ in keeping with Halo Infinite’s legacy, which is likely to be the subsequent mainline Halo recreation, whereas the opposite stands out as the rumoured remake of the unique Halo.
According to the insider’s sources, nonetheless, these tasks are at the least two years away from any official launch – so don’t anticipate to listen to something anytime quickly.
This change in method is described as a value efficient option to ‘assist produce content material for video games at a dependable tempo sooner or later’, within the ‘hope of not reproducing what occurred to Halo Infinite’ with regard to manufacturing delays.
According to the sources, Halo Infinite didn’t meet its ‘industrial targets’, which led future content material to be cancelled past what was already outsourced to different studios – such because the addition of the Forge which got here out a yr after launch.
While 343 has not formally commented on the scenario, it’s know that they have been badly affected by the overall Xbox layoffs from earlier within the yr, they usually’ve not introduced any new venture since Halo Infinite’s launch in 2021.
Despite having a powerful showcase throughout Summer Game Fest this yr, Microsoft hasn’t had the very best time of late – because of its complicated adjustments to Xbox Game Pass – though it has been hinting that it’ll have so much to speak about at Gamescom subsequent month.
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