343 Studios Confirms its Continued Leadership over Halo

Amid recent rumours that they may be leaving the Halo franchise behind, 343 Studios have confirmed that they are here to stay with a recent Twitter Post:

These rumours began when Microsoft announced that there would be a mass layoff- with over 10,000 jobs being lost. This included Xbox and, of course, any studios Xbox owned- such as Bethesda and Obsidian. Among these is 343 Studios- who have helmed the series since the departure of Bungie after Halo Reach back in 2010. Since then, there’s been some highs but mostly lows for fans. With the poorly received Halo 4 and 50 as well as the disappointing support for 2021’s Halo: Infinite, many were beginning to accept the decline of Xbox’s biggest gaming franchise as inevitable.

This decline has only taken more of a plummet last year- with the cancellation of Halo infinite’s split-screen co-op (despite being already in the game files) and poor handling of its online multiplayer battle pass causing many players to quit the game entirely. It’s not too much of a surprise, then, when a lot of fans rejoyced upon hearing the rumour that Halo would be changing hands- with 343 Studios no longer being at the helm of the series. This would have been the chance to start fresh and enter a truly new era of Halo. It would make sense from Microsoft’s perspective too. Master Chief is Xbox’s Mario, and the amount of bad press the last few instalments have been receiving is making Xbox’s exclusivity this generation look pitiful when compared to Sony and Nintendo heavy hitters like God of War and Breath of the Wild.

If you’re among the group that was excited to hear about the prospect of a new team leading Halo, I’ve got bad news. Studio Head Pierre Hintze confirmed in the now infamous tweet that 343 was here to stay- for Halo Infinite’s future development and beyond. This had some quite volatile responses, with Twitter users @KavosYT and@JaredFPS weighing in their disappointment:

While you can’t blame every Halo misgiving on 343 Studios (especially given how Microsoft themselves have been handling the beloved franchise), it would make sense to want a fresh start with a new team of developers. Halo has been pretty stagnant for a while now- and new ideas are needed to keep the series alive. 343 Studios could provide this, but it’s up in the air at the moment. Halo is certainly in a rut at the moment- and, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this is going to change any time soon.