Following Microsoft’s termination of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team, rumors have emerged suggesting that Microsoft has also shuttered or significantly downsized 343 Industries. The studio, criticized for its performance, may now transition to an intermediary overseer role for future titles in the “Halo” franchise.
343 Industries, a Microsoft-owned subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, was established in 2007. Since then, it has taken over the “Halo” series from Bungie and, according to critics, has struggled to maintain the franchise’s original acclaim.
Throughout their tenure as a first-party Microsoft studio, 343 Industries has been criticized for mishandling every title they’ve developed. Starting with the 2011 release of “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary,” a remake of the 2001 original, the studio’s revised art direction, though visually impressive, detracted from the core “Halo” experience.
Despite the inclusion of an in-game toggle to switch between the new and original graphics, the game suffered from fundamental flaws. Revised props retained the original game’s geometry, leading to odd instances of players shooting at invisible objects or bumping into thin air due to the mismatch between the new visuals and the old collision data.
Another issue with “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” is that it wasn’t actually developed by 343 Industries. Instead, 343 Industries served as an overseer, outsourcing the game’s development to Saber Interactive, with the multiplayer mode handled by Certain Affinity.
The 2012 release of “Halo 4” marked the first true game developed by 343 Industries, five years after the studio was established. Prior to this, they assisted Bungie on “Halo 3: ODST” and “Halo: Reach.”
“Halo 4” received mixed reviews from players, with many finding it forgettable. The 2015 release of “Halo 5: Guardians” garnered even more negative reception, as its storyline essentially disregarded the ending of “Halo 4,” further disappointing the fanbase.
And then we get to the 2021 release of “Halo Infinite,” which faced widespread criticism for its modernized art direction. The backlash was so severe that a Brute enemy from a July 2020 trailer became a meme among gamers.
In response to the negative feedback, the game was delayed in August 2020 and eventually released on December 8, 2021.
The game’s multiplayer component was released a month earlier as a free-to-play experience, but it was criticized for being barren and lacking content, focusing heavily on microtransactional cosmetics.
Despite initially drawing significant hype and peaking at over 272,000 concurrent players on Steam due to its free-to-play nature, players quickly abandoned it. By the game’s second season in May 2022, “Halo Infinite” had already dwindled to around 5,000 players on PC.
343 Industries had nearly seven years to develop “Halo Infinite,” which launched primarily as a multiplayer-focused title with a campaign released later. This campaign retconned the story of their previous game, effectively resetting the narrative to the ending of “Halo 3.”
It appears that 343 Industries have struggled to create new stories for Master Chief, who seems to be retained only for his name value. The game felt half-baked, with the multiplayer mode lacking content and taking half a year to introduce the Forge function, which was only released as a beta.
Despite the extensive development period, “Halo Infinite” saw its development outsourced to various other studios, including Certain Affinity, Atomhawk, SkyBox Labs, Sperasoft, and The Coalition.
This spread the game’s development across six different entities, leading to a disjointed final product. The game, which radically transformed the “Halo” franchise into an unrecognizable live service shooter, disappointed many fans despite its free-to-play multiplayer component.
Over the past two years, 343 Industries has faced significant personnel losses and has been actively seeking to recruit new lead level designers, gameplay designers, game designers, system designers, and various other positions since 2023.
The majority of their layoffs around that time involved contractual hires, highlighting the main studio’s apparent inability to develop the game independently. This incompetence forced them to outsource development and divide responsibilities among numerous other studios just to complete the project.
This situation has fueled numerous rumors about Microsoft potentially shutting down 343 Industries. Recent information from Bathrobe Spartan, based on insights from former and current employees, suggests that the studio downsized from 500 employees to less than 280 throughout 2023-2024.
Microsoft has reportedly taken over managing the studio following the release of their marketing and internal communication teams.
The rumor claims that Microsoft has finally realized 343 Industries is no longer competent enough to handle internal development duties. Consequently, the future of “Halo” is being shifted to another studio. Bathrobe Spartan revealed that two significant projects are currently in the pre-production phase.
One of these projects is expected to feature a multiplayer mode with a much higher player count. Speculation suggests these projects might be a “Halo: Combat Evolved” remake and the next main entry in the series, with the latter likely featuring the aforementioned multiplayer mode.
Despite “Halo Infinite” initially performing well upon release, it failed to meet Microsoft’s targets. As a result, only the Forge mode will continue to be supported after the release of currently developed content.
Unfortunately for gamers hoping that 343 Industries would finally be sidelined, various employees at the studio, including Senior Community Manager John Junyszek, have debunked the rumors.
Responding to a tweet questioning the legitimacy of the rumors, Junyszek made a resounding statement, saying, “It has been – and always will be – wild out there.” This response essentially fans the flames over the speculation about the longtime “Halo” developer’s role in the future.
Self-proclaimed “insider” Jez Corden also declared the rumors to be “false.” He substantiated his claim by noting the ongoing hiring spree at 343 Industries and its considerable size, suggesting that their involvement extends beyond merely overseeing projects.
These counter-statements from Junyszek and Corden effectively debunk the rumors about 343 Industries’ future role in the “Halo” franchise.
This is unfortunate for those who hoped 343 Industries would be sidelined, given the studio’s lackluster performance since its establishment in 2007. Each subsequent “Halo” installment from “Halo 4” onwards has been seen as progressively worse, culminating in the major disappointment of Halo Infinite.
343 Industries had to outsource much of “Halo Infinite’s” development to five other studios, including SkyBox Labs as co-developers and Sperasoft and Certain Affinity handling the multiplayer component.
While outsourcing specific tasks is common, involving The Coalition, known for the modern “Gears of War” titles, to assist with the Slipspace engine and Atomhawk with visual design, led to a disjointed development process. This collaboration resulted in an unpolished and janky final product, reminiscent of the troubled launch of “Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
With 343 Industries piecing together “Halo: Combat Evolved,” “Halo 2,” “Halo 3,” “ODST,” “Reach,” and “Halo 4” into a comprehensive HD collection, the initial release for Xbox One in 2014 was marred by numerous issues.
However, the collection found new life with a PC port in 2019, thanks to the assistance of Saber Interactive, Certain Affinity, United Front Games, and Blur Studio.
These collaborations effectively created an entirely new game with continued updates, introducing additional “Halo” games into the collection over the years.
Time and time again, 343 Industries has demonstrated their incompetence, to the point where some joke that the “i” in 343i stands for “incompetent.” Their major releases have been plagued with bugs, limited content, and have required years of updates and content additions to become redeemable.
“Halo Infinite” can now be considered a full-fledged game, but only after nearly three years of additional work, which shouldn’t have been necessary for a game that spent seven years in development with contributions from six different studios. The future of the franchise appears grim.
Despite Microsoft cutting employees and shuttering multiple studios following failed projects, they remain insistent on keeping 343 Industries around. This is perplexing, given their track record of failing to produce even an average product since their inception. Over the past decade, they have consistently overpromised and underdelivered, relying on contractual hires to clean up their messes.
The “Halo” franchise seems dead and buried at this point, yet 343 Industries continues to be tasked with desecrating its name.
