343 Industries is reportedly switching from its own Slipspace engine to Unreal for some games

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries is reportedly moving from its own in-house Slipspace engine to Unreal Engine for some games in the future.

This message is from a Bloomberg Slipspace’s move to Unreal will reportedly kick off with a new game codenamed Tatanka, according to the publication’s sources familiar with 343’s plans. Accordingly Bloomberg, 343 is developing Tatanka with Certain Affinity, which has been involved in the development of various Halo games for more than 15 years. The project reportedly started out as a battle royale, but may have evolved in different directions.

Bloomberg reports that future Halo games “will also use the Unreal Engine,” but that some in the studio are skeptical about dropping Slipspace entirely in favor of Epic Games’ Unreal, with concerns that the code engine switch will feel negative affect to play a Halo game. Sources familiar with 343 and its use of Slipspace narrated Bloomberg that the engine, which appears to be based on decades-old code, is difficult to use and buggy, and at times a pain point for developers working on Halo games. Apparently, studio management has considered a move to Unreal multiple times throughout 343’s history, but that didn’t really happen until Pierre Hintze took over the studio late last year after 343 boss Bonnie Ross and engine head David Berger left.

Elsewhere in the report, the publication claims that 343 is not working on new story content for Halo Infinite, though many fans believe said story content will come in the future of the game. As a matter of fact, Bloomberg reports that some “developers were prototyping in the Unreal Engine and coming up with ideas for new Halo games.” However, many of these developers were reportedly laid off earlier this month, making it unclear if these prototypes are still being developed.

This report follows news earlier this month that Microsoft has laid off 10,000 employees while it acquires Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion deal. 343 Industries was reportedly one of the studios hardest hit by these layoffs, and shortly after they took place, Halo Infinite creative director Joseph Staten left the studio to rejoin Xbox Publishing. Rumors that 343 Industries would no longer develop Halo games and instead oversee the franchise circulated thereafter, but last week Hintze released a statement stating, “343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future.”

[Source: Bloomberg]

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