Halo Studios reveals Project Foundry and move to Unreal Engine 5
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
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The recent challenges faced by the Halo franchise are undeniable. Despite ongoing support for Halo Infinite from 343 Industries and SkyBox Labs, Xbox seems poised to introduce a fresh chapter for the series. This involves the establishment of a new studio exclusively focused on all things Halo. During the Halo World Championship on Sunday, audiences got a glimpse of the new Halo Studios, which is the rebranded name for 343, and its inaugural title, currently known as Project Foundry.
Project Foundry is not characterized as a tech demo or a fully developed game. Instead, it serves as a demonstration of the potential direction for the Halo series under the new studio. It incorporates many familiar Halo elements, such as Master Chief in the midst of Forerunner architecture. However, the visuals are now produced using Unreal Engine 5, marking a departure from the old Slipspace Engine. Due to Slipspace’s age, the team at Halo Studios is optimistic that transitioning to UE5 will attract new talent and reduce the time needed for updates.
So what does Foundry represent? The team is clear that this is not a new game – but nor is it a traditional tech demo. It isn’t just an exploration of what’s possible with this engine – it’s a true reflection of what would be required for a new Halo game using Unreal, and a training tool for how to get there. Foundry has been made with the same rigor, process, and fidelity as a shipped game would be.
“Where this type of work’s been done historically, across the industry, it can contain a lot of smoke and mirrors,” explains Matthews. “It sometimes leads players down paths where they believe it’s going to be one thing, and then something else happens. The ethos of Foundry is vigorously the opposite of that.
“Everything we’ve made is built to the kind of standards that we need to build for the future of our games. We were very intentional about not stepping into tech demo territory. We built things that we truly believe in, and the content that we’ve built – or at least a good percentage of it – could travel anywhere inside our games in the future if we so desire it.”
Hintze goes further: “It’s fair to say that our intent is that the majority of what we showcased in Foundry is expected to be in projects which we are building, or future projects.”
The most exciting revelation from the Project Foundry announcement is not just a sneak peek at the next Halo game, but the confirmation that multiple Halo games are currently in the works. However, Halo Studios mentions that these projects are still in their early stages. They also clarify that Halo Infinite will continue to receive support, with all updates being delivered through the Slipspace Engine. The upcoming update will introduce a 3rd person mode to the game.
It’s too soon to predict when these new Halo games will be unveiled, but it seems likely that they will target hardware beyond the current Xbox Series X|S generation. We’ll keep a close watch on this story as it unfolds over the next few years.
