Microsoft is postponing its halo Evolution to Unreal Engine 5, after more than a year of rumors of an engine change following a leadership change at 343 Industries, layoffs and other changes. 343 Industries will now become Halo Studios as part of this engine change announcement, hoping to start a new chapter in the history of halo.
halo The move to Unreal Engine 5 is being positioned as the first step in a transformation for Halo Studios to change its technology, structure, processes and even culture. “We will not only look to improve the efficiency of development, but also change the recipe for how we create Halo games,” says Pierre Hintze, studio head at Halo Studios.
The team building halo will move from the studio's Slipspace engine to Unreal, after the proprietary engine it was designed for Halo Infinite became difficult to use and put a strain on development. Halo Studios had to devote a lot of staff to developing the Slipspace engine, and parts of it are almost 25 years old.
“One of the most important things we're interested in is growing and expanding our world so players can interact more and experience more,” says Chris Matthews, art director at Halo Studios. “Nanite and Lumens [Unreal’s rendering and lighting technologies] Offer us the opportunity to do this in a way the industry has never seen before. As an artist, it’s incredibly exciting to do this work.”
Halo Studios does not specify release dates or new dates halo There are no game announcements yet, but the team has created some examples of it halo runs in Unreal. The work, called Project Foundry, is “neither a game nor a tech demo,” but rather a research, development and training tool. It is also the basis for how the studio changes its construction halo games.
Project Foundry was built as if it were a ship game, so a lot of that can show up in it halo Games in the future. “It's fair to say that our intention is to improve on the majority of what we presented at the Foundry expected to be in projects we are building or in future projects,” says Hintze.
Project Foundry includes more detailed landscapes for Halo biomes as well as foliage levels that we haven't seen yet halo Play in the past. Master Chief's armor has even been redesigned in this footage, months after I exclusively revealed it notepad that Microsoft was working on some form of a Halo: Combat Evolved Remastered.
Halo Studios is currently working on several halo Play while the Slipstream Engine continues to receive power Halo Infinite. “We have focused disproportionately on creating the conditions for a successful service Halo Infinite“says Hintze. “[But switching to Unreal] allows us to fully concentrate on creating diverse new experiences of the highest possible quality.”