Microsoft are willing to allow other studios to take a shot at developing their legendary franchise Halo with 343 Industries serving as the creative force behind the potential new projects.
Earlier this week, Microsoft laid off over 10,000 people from various divisions including gaming. Studios that were affected by the layoffs include Bethesda and The Coalition , who didn't lose much stuff, and Halo Infinite studio 343 Industries , who lost close to 100 developers according to some reports.
The Devs that were laid off primarily worked on the Halo campaign, which suggests Microsoft are trying to shake up things within 343 and try something different for the next Halo story.
According to the information from Halo news and podcast channel Bathrobe Spartan , Microsoft could be giving Halo to other developers, who are willing to work on this iconic series.
Apparently, 343 Industries would still be involved, acting as the creative force behind the projects but they would not be actively developing games.
This structure seems to be quite similar to how other Microsoft studios like The Initiative work . The Initiative reportedly worked on the concept, vision and story for Perfect Dark before they hired Crystal Dynamics to build out the rest of the game like levels, combat and other assets.
It's highly likely that Microsoft are looking to do something similar for 343 and the Halo franchise - Keep the 343 single-player team small, receive pitches from various studios for the next Halo game and let 343 oversee the projects.
343 Industries
While some may find such an approach disappointing, it's probably for the best to help Halo return to its glory days.
As for multiplayer, 343 Industries will continue developing new content with the help of support studios, which is certainly good news since the multiplayer foundation is pretty solid and all it needs is some extra content to properly shine.
Halo is the best-selling franchise from Xbox first-party studios with over 80 million copies sold worldwide. The last game in the series, Halo Infinite, attracted over 20 million players on multiplayer launch. The paid single-player campaign was critically acclaimed, reaching an 87 Metacritic score.
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