UE5 Has 2 Crucial Advantages Over Slipspace Engine That Was “One of the primary things” That Convinced Halo to Switch Boats
Following a nightmare development cycle and lengthy delays, Halo Infinite dropped in December 2021. Despite its great campaign, the game was infested with issues from the get-go and lacked content for a game that was centered around the live-service models. Gamers had lost hope in developer 343 Industries and Microsoft, believing that it was the end of the line for Master Chief’s adventures.
Halo developers explain the move to Unreal Engine 5. (Image via Microsoft)
However, Microsoft isn’t giving up on its iconic shooter. Significant changes are now coming for the Halo franchise, including a switch from Slipspace Engine to Unreal Engine 5. According to the developers, the Unreal Engine is packed with a number of benefits that made the change a no-brainer.
Halo Developers Explain the Move to Unreal Engine 5
Halo‘s future looks bright with these crucial development changes. (Image via Microsoft)
As part of a new era for the studio, 343 Industries has now rebranded to Halo Studios. The rebrand is also combined with a complete overhaul of workflow, culture, and how internal teams are organized.
However, rebranding is one of many big announcements. Studio Head Pierre Hintze confirmed that the new era also involves a jump from Halo‘s proprietary Slipspace Engine to Epic Games’ renowned Unreal Engine 5. We even got footage of what the team is able to produce with the engine.
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So, what prompted Halo to abandon its Slipspace engine? Well, the move to Unreal Engine 5 will allow the studio to develop games better, thanks to the benefits it brings to the table. With the engine’s Nanite and Lumen rendering technologies, Halo Studios believes it can indeed produce a groundbreaking game.
One of the primary things we’re interested in is growing and expanding our world so players have more to interact with and more to experience. Nanite and Lumen [Unreal’s rendering and lighting technologies] offer us an opportunity to do that in a way that the industry hasn’t seen before. As artists, it’s incredibly exciting to do that work.
In the last couple of years, games that’ve been developed using Unreal Engine 5 are considered to be phenomenal. Hellblade 2‘s release this year unlocked the potential of the engine as it looked absolutely fantastic and used advanced features such as Nanite and Lumen to great effectiveness. It’s so incredible that every screenshot of the game is wallpaper material.
Moving to an industry-standard engine will not only help the studio’s development efforts but also allow it to produce a title that’s a graphical powerhouse and set a new benchmark for Unreal Engine 5. It’s great to see that Microsoft is finally moving in the right direction with the Halo franchise with these changes.
“Multiple” New Halo Games are In Development
New Halo games are in the pipeline. (Image via Microsoft)
Although we’ve known for a while that 343 Industries is working on whatever is next for Master Chief’s adventure, earlier this year, the studio suggested that it had multiple projects in the works.
Now, alongside a major rebrand and switch to Unreal Engine 5, the developer has also revealed that it does indeed have multiple projects in the pipeline. According to Hintze, as Halo Studios, the company has recalibrated itself, and instead of focusing its entire efforts on a standalone project, it plans to produce multiple titles at once.
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COO Elizabeth Van Wyck also stated that the studio will place a much greater emphasis on gaining feedback from gamers at much earlier stages of development.
So, what new Halo projects are in development? Well, that’s currently anyone’s guess. We can expect to see another entry in the mainline series or, as the leaks suggest, another remaster of Combat Evolved. Only time will tell what the future holds for this iconic FPS series.
With that said, was Halo‘s move to Unreal Engine 5 the right decision? If so, let us know in the comments below.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
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