Amidst rumors that 343 Industries has been taken off of lead development of the Halo franchise, the studio has taken to Twitter to state that it will continue to “develop Halo now and in the future.”
343 Industries’ studio head Pierre Hintze shared the message on Twitter, saying, “Halo and Master Chief are here to stay. 343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great.”
— Halo (@Halo) January 21, 2023
The news follows the mass layoffs of 10,000 people at Microsoft, which saw a number of employees at Xbox Game Studios, The Coalition, 343 Industries, and Bethesda let go. Shortly after, Halo Infinite director Joseph Staten reportedly left 343 Industries to rejoin Xbox publishing.
Rumors then started swirling that 343 Industries would be taken off lead development of the Halo franchise and would instead help third-party studios bring Halo to life in the form of new games. As reported by Metro, one such leaker named Bathrobe Spartan even said that initial plans for story-based DLC for Halo Infinite have been canceled already.
In response to the rumors, 343 Industries has planted its flag and said it is here to stay.
Halo Infinite has had a bumpy ride since it was announced, from its controversial E3 2020 demo to its unpopular original Battle Pass and progression system that has since been changed to the cancelation of split-screen co-op.
There have been a lot of positives as well, as we scored both Halo Infinite’s single-player campaign and multiplayer a 9/10, and the team has done a lot to address fan complaints.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
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