Recommended Videos
22.01.2024 - 10:15 / gameranx.com
343 Industries had an interesting message at the end of their recent Halo Infinite January Update, which was the livestream the studio held shortly after last week’s Xbox Developer Direct.
Community director Brian Jarrard, who was one of the hosts of the livestream, shared this message at the outro:
“From us in the studio, it’s going to be a very exciting year for Halo. We are off to an exciting start.
We have a dedicated team working on supporting Halo Infinite, and continuing to deliver going forward. But also, yes, we have additional teams now, accelerating towards the future, working on brand new projects.
So I just want to tantalize you with that. There are a lot of things cooking here. We could not be more excited. As part of that, I actually want to give a shoutout. We are actually growing the team right now.
So, if you’re passionate about Halo, if you’ve got skills and you’re interested, please keep an eye on the Microsoft career site.
Because we are growing and we have a lot of exciting things in the works for the future.”
There had been a specter revolving around the Halo franchise and its future since its studio went through a spate of layoffs a few years ago. The rumors and speculation that had been revolving around game journalists, writers, and influencers, is that Halo Infinite was only the latest project to suffer from mismanagement, leading to those layoffs and resignations.
It’s important to remember that those layoffs stretched out for a matter of months, while speculation revolved around them. They also clearly happened and ended before the ongoing current wave of layoffs being felt across the industry.
So, with this announcement, it sounds like 343 Industries has turned around a new leaf. It may be the case, as we know that Halo Infinite has itself gone around to winning back a significant number of players back to the point that they are an active user base, receiving regular updates again.
Some gamers may question just how healthy the game is, since Halo Infinite’s user base didn’t reach critical mass. But it’s definitely in a better place now that Overwatch and Destiny 2 is now.
To add to that, the news that 343 is planning some new projects, to the point that they will soon be hiring again, is a clear show of confidence from the studio. Maybe we really won’t be waiting that long for new Halo games after all.
Recommended Videos
Defense Derby, the mobile tower defense game by KRAFTON Studios, has announced that the new character Florea will join the game’s roster. Alongside her arrival comes the Derby Brawl – Florea Mirror Match game mode which will run until February 12th at 4 PM PT.
Today, CD Projekt RED announced a series of high-profile hires for the development team working on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel codenamed Project Orion.
Palworld developer Pocket Pair has announced a partnership with mobile game developer KLab Games to create a new «hybrid-casual» game with the popular indie developer. Pocket Pair took the world by storm with the launch of its newest game earlier this month, with Palworld drawing plenty of comparisons to Pokemon for its adorable creatures. The game also features a plethora of survival elements, featuring a fully explorable open-world and base-building gameplay. Now, developer Pocket Pair is looking to translate its recent success into the mobile game market.
Striking Distance Studios, the developer that brought the world The Callisto Protocol, appears to be working on a new Unreal Engine 5 game and is currently hiring for its team. The developer behind the horror game formed in 2019, and The Callisto Protocol was its inaugural release. Though highly anticipated, the spiritual successor to Dead Space launched to mixed reviews and a generally poor reception, leaving the future of the studio in question.
The Pokemon franchise has never really been known for coming anywhere close to pushing the envelope with its technical accomplishments, but recent years in particular have seen a number of the series’ mainline instalments being let down by the poor technical state they have launched in, from Pokmon Sword and Shield to Pokemon Legends: Arceus to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The latter in particular launched in such poor condition that Nintendo was forced to issue a public apology.
Xbox and Obsidian Entertainment have revealed extended gameplay footage of Avowed, spilling new details about the aquatic Shatterscarp region as well as other key combat features. After its debut gameplay trailer went live as part of Xbox's summer showcase last June, Avowed appeared again at Xbox's recent Developer Direct alongside other big Xbox games like MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Ninja Theory's Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.
Half Mermaid, led by Sam Barlow, is known for making video games using FMV, and they often require the player to sort through footage to solve mysteries. But for the studio's next projects, it seems the mystery will begin before the games are even announced – today, two Steam listings were posted on Half Mermaid's developer page, but most of their information is redacted.
Halo Infinitedeveloper 343 Industries has confirmed that active support for the game will be winding down after the current multiplayer season concludes.
Halo Infinite didn’t quite hit the way 343 Industries and Microsoft would have hoped it would, and it seems the studio is ready to begin winding down support for the shooter- or at least start taking the initial steps in that process, with 343 Industries having announced that Halo Infinite won’t receive any new seasons going forward, instead adopting an Operations model.
Halo Infinite won't receive a sixth season update and is moving away from the 'seasons' model entirely. Instead, on January 30th it'll receive a new arena map, a new operation and a handful of other new features, and it'll continue to be updated with shorter "Operation" battle passes in future.
Developer 343 Industries has teased future plans for its iconic shooter series, just as it announced that support on Halo Infinite would be somewhat slowing down.