Halo Infinite hasn’t lived up to the expectations of its player base as 343 Industries has struggled to release new content for of one Xbox’s flagship titles. The delays and canceled content for Halo Infinite are frequently attributed to internal issues including the departure of key people within the studio. H
owever, new reports suggest that some of it may have been due to the game engine used by 343 on Halo Infinite.
Bloomberg reports that the studio will not be working on additional story campaign content for Halo Infinite as it moves on from using the Slipspace engine. The sources familiar with the development of Halo Infinite revealed that the game engine is buggy and difficult to use, which contributed to the game being delayed.
Sources also shared that several multiplayer game modes for Halo Infinite, such as Extraction and Assault, are close to being finished. However, these modes are partly being held up because of issues related to the game engine.
The report claims 343 Industries decided late last year to use Unreal Engine 5 for its next game. The studio has reportedly debated switching to the game engine developed by Epic Games several times in the past decade, but the pivot to using Unreal Engine 5 was finalized following the departures of studio head Bonnie Ross and engine lead David Berger from 343.
Furthermore, 343 will reportedly use Unreal Engine 5 in Tatanka, which is a long-rumored upcoming project it's working on in collaboration with Certain Affinity. Apparently, the game started out as a battle royale game but has since evolved into something different.
The developers are now creating prototypes using Unreal Engine 5 and generating new ideas for the new Halo title. But, while 343 is moving forward with the new game engine, some worry that the engine switch might have a negative impact on gameplay. It also doesn't help that 343 was hit hard by the recent layoffs, losing nearly a hundred employees including industry veterans.
Amidst all this, there's speculation the development of Halo Infinite may be farmed out to a different studio following the job cuts at 343 Industries. However, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer recently expressed support for the studio and said that 343 will continue working on the Halo series.
"What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build," Spencer said. "And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo."
343 Industries will be launching Season 3 of Halo Infinite on March 7. The new season will add three new multiplayer maps and two new game modes as well as weapons, armor, and ray-tracing support.
