The Halo series is rumored to be moving to Unreal Engine

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Microsoft’s recent large-scale layoffs have affected many departments, and fewer people will naturally affect business development. According to reports from Windows Central and Jason Schreier, after layoffs, the 343i studio, mainly responsible for the “Halo” series of games, is undergoing reorganization. Turning the new “Halo” game to Epic Games’ Unreal Engine development is an important goal of the restructuring.

The engine currently used by “Halo: Infinite” is the Slipspace engine. 343’s in-house Slipspace Engine is described as “buggy and difficult to use,” owing to the fact that it’s founded on code from the 1990s and 2000s era. Sources familiar with the creation of Halo Infinite, the latest Halo title, have said that issues with the Slipspace Engine have caused several development problems, including the delay of multiplayer modes like Extraction and Assault.

In fact, though, the engine-replacing debate predates layoffs much earlier. The developers wanted to use the more modern Unreal Engine because the Slipspace engine contained too much legacy code, which caused several development issues and slowed down the studio’s productivity. However, changing the engine will undoubtedly change some features of the game, such as physical effects, so some developers said they should stick to Slipspace, and the two parties have been involved in heated discussions. Reportedly, the decision to switch to the new engine wasn’t made until 343’s previous Studio Head Bonnie Ross and Engine Lead David Berger left the company and Pierre Hintze took the reigns.

According to sources, 343i’s first project using Unreal Engine is code-named “Project Tatanka”. This project is being jointly developed with Certain Affinity. Tatanka may still be a battle royale-type experience, though it may also “evolve in different directions.”

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