Halo has fallen on hard times ever since it passed fromBungie to Xbox. Halo: Combat Evolved was the definition of a system seller forthe original Xboxand almost single-handedly made the console a legitimate competitor to PlayStation and Nintendo. Its legacy goes beyond just launching Xbox, but the entire FPS genre on consoles, online multiplayer, map makers, gameplay recording, and more. When Bungie decided it was done withthe world of Master Chief, Xbox wasn’t about to let its most iconic franchise die and created an entire studio dedicated solely to this one franchise.
343 Industries, named after the malicious AI 343 Guilty Spark from the series, has been a shepherd to Halo for longer than Bungie ever was and somehow still doesn’t understand what makes Halo, Halo. After fumbling with the franchise for over a decade, it was announced during the 2024 Halo World Championship that 343 was no more, andHalo Studios would take its place. While there are some tangible changes beyond the new logo, it is far from enough to erase all the damage done to this once colossal gaming franchise.
Halo Infinite and The Master Chief Collection have both been vastly improved since launch, but released in unacceptable states for a Halo game.
Halo Infinite
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A new label doesn’t change the contents
A rose by any other name
If a restaurant changes its name but keeps all the same chefs, would you suddenly expect the food to be any better?
I am always highly suspicious of companies that rebrand with a new name. In almost any circumstance companies cling to established names for dear life. Even if it doesn’t have the best reputation, a known name is always more marketable than something new. Xbox tried to get around this by calling the team 343 Industries at first to evoke memories of the Halo character, but are now forgoing any hint of subtlety and going with Halo Studios. Name changes like this only happen when a name’s recognition is so bad that there’s no hope of rehabilitation. And you know what, I agree. 343 has done such a consistently poor job with Halo that I wouldn’t trust any product it made.
The issue is that Halo Studios is still 343 at its core. This is just a new name, not a real change in the team. Sure, that team has seen a ton of leadership move in and out of roles over its life, but has been fairly steady for the past year or two. If a restaurant changes its name but keeps all the same chefs, would you suddenly expect the food to be any better?
Granted, there are a few actionable changes alongside the name change. The big one is abandoning the Slipspace engine for Unreal Engine 5. This is a smart move since it will both speed up development and make it infinitely easier for new talent to come onboard and start contributing. Why this doesn’t prove anything to me, though, is the fact that the engine has never been the main problem. It was for Infinite, sure, but Halo 4, 5, and The Master Chief Collection all had major issues as well. Going to UE5 gives the team an easier path towards making a solid game but if the people there don’t know how to make a good Halo game then the engine being used doesn’t matter.
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Halo Studios shackles the team
Its fate is forever tied to one franchise
A section of the community and I have been hoping that 343 would take a break from Halo to practice taking a full game from concept to market without the heavy expectations of the Halo name. While doing that, allow another studio to make an interstitial entry of some kind to hold us over, but give the core team a chance to solidify its pipeline. Instead, Halo Studios is doing the exact opposite: working on multiple Halo games simultaneously while still supporting Infinite. Splitting the team’s focus is arguably the last thing it should be doing at this point.
The name itself also kills any chance of an outside team getting a chance to helm a Halo game, or for this studio to ever stretch its creative muscles beyond the bounds of the franchise. It has essentially become the equivalent of Infinity Ward, which makes Call of Duty and nothing else. If the team there is satisfied dedicating their entire career to one title, fair enough, but I always advocate for teams to have the freedom to surprise us. Think of Guerilla Games moving from Killzone to Horizon or Tango Gameworks hitting us with Hi-Fi Rush after The Evil Within.
Nothing about the Halo Studios rebrand gives me any confidence in the team’s next projects. In fact, it only makes me more concerned for its future. It is betting its existence on multiple games when it has yet to make a single great one with no alternative options thanks to its name all but shackling it to Halo forever. I hope beyond hope that Halo can make a recovery, but a name change can’t trick me into thinking this team has suddenly turned it all around. It has to prove it first.
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