There may be bad news for Halo fans, as a recent report indicates 343 Industries canceled plans for new Halo Infinite story content. This news comes as 343 Industries undergoes massive layoffs and other internal shakeups.
Halo Infinite experienced a troubled development cycle, facing multiple delays and launching without key features like a co-op campaign and the Forge map editor. The former was a core part of the series since Halo: Combat Evolved, and Infinite’s version still hasn’t launched over a year later. While the COVID-19 pandemic caused some of the game’s development problems, Halo Infinite’s controversial Slipspace engine also contributed to the studio’s difficulties.
According to a report by Bloomberg tech contributor Jason Shrier, 343 is going through a substantial studio reboot. This shakeup reputedly includes leadership changes and massive layoffs, though Microsoft maintains that 343 is vital to Halo’s future. Among the changes is transitioning away from the limited Slipspace engine and towards Unreal Engine 5. And while Season 3: “Echoes Within” is still set to launch in March, 343 has reportedly canceled development on new story missions for Halo Infinite.
There’s not much information about these canceled story missions. Halo Infinite’s post-credit scene shows Halo Wars 2 antagonist Atriox unsealing a chamber where more of the Endless are being held. Meanwhile, the post-credits scene for completing Halo Infinite on Legendary Difficulty teases the return of a powerful Forerunner military AI called Offensive Bias. While these scenes likely foreshadow the next full Halo title, one or both may have been setting up HaloInfinite’s story expansions. Alternately, Infinite’s new story missions might have helped to bridge the gap between games.
That is all speculation, and there is no way to know what these missions would have looked like if they ever saw the light of day. However, the studio is still working on Halo Infinite’s upcoming Season 3 content, featuring a new Fracture event, new Armor, three new maps, two new multiplayer modes, new sandbox items, and more. Developers initially planned to launch it in November 2022, but 343 Industries pushed its release date back to March 7, 2023.
343 Industries also partnered with Certain Affinity, who worked with Bungie, and 343 on multiple Halo games, including Infinite. The two studios are cooperating on an upcoming Halo project codenamed Tatanka, which developers originally intended as a battle royale. However, that may or may not still be the plan. Tatanka will, however, be the first Halo game developed in Unreal Engine, with 343 spending much of last year developing prototypes.
Halo Infinite is available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.