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shikamaru317 on 19 January 2023
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Ryuu96 said:
shikamaru317 said:

I see 2 possible scenarios here for 343/Halo:

1. The next mainline Halo is going into pre-production, and Halo Infinite is no longer planned to get 10 years of support (2021-2031). Most or all singleplayer DLC for Infinite has been canceled, and multiplayer support for Infinite will continue until maybe a half a year before the next mainline Halo releases, release probably around Holiday 2026-Holiday 2027. Because only the Halo singleplayer concept and writing folks are needed right now in the preproduction phase of the next mainline Halo, Xbox decided to layoff most of the rest of the Halo singleplayer team to save money in the meantime, and will staff the singleplayer team back up once the next mainline Halo enters full production.

2. Halo Infinite 10 year plan is staying in place, but will now be multiplayer only. 343 is done with developing their own singleplayer Halo content, they will keep a small-mid sized team of writers, concept artists, and franchise managers at 343 who will assisting 2nd party partner studios with developing singleplayer Halo games.

This yeah, much better articulated than me. These are the only two scenarios I see.

It's either a rescope, refocus and come back later or they're outsourcing it.

Still a lot of questions even with those two scenarios though.

  1. Will Infinite F2P MP end at some point and if it does, will it simply be replaced by another F2P MP (like Overwatch 2).
  2. Will the next Halo Campaign be entirely detached from the MP?
  3. If 343 does outsource it instead, whilst leading creatively, will 2nd parties really want to work on Slipspace?
  4. Does Halo Campaign need to be Slipspace if MP/Forge are separated? Is it ideal to have MP/Forge on Slipspace but Campaign on another engine?
  5. If they stick with Slipspace, do they attempt another revamp of the engine?

My best guesses here to answer those questions:

1. Halo Infinite will definitely be replaced at some point. If it is scenario 1, with the next mainline game going into early dev right now, I'd guess the next mainline Halo will have it's own MP that replaces Infinite MP. Don't know if the next mainline will stick with Infinite's F2P model or go back to Buy 2 Play, with long term multiplayer content development supported with microtransactions and battlepasses, hopefully they will go back to Buy 2 Play but I can't guarantee that. If it's scenario 2, and 343 is outsourcing Halo singleplayer moving forward, I think Infinite will get the full 10 years of support, with the next Halo F2P MP releasing on the next gen Xbox and PC in 2031, built from the ground up on a new engine/new build of Slipspace for next gen. 

2. Alot depends on rather it is scenario 1 or 2 here. In scenario 1 there is a chance of Halo singleplayer and multiplayer being integrated again as a single buy 2 play product, if it is scenario 2 though and singleplayer is being outsourced, those will definitely be released as standalone singleplayer Halo games rather than as singleplayer DLC for Infinite imo.

3. No chance of any of their 2nd party partners wanting to use Slipspace if we are in scenario 2. It takes alot of time to train on Slipspace, it makes hiring difficult, etc., the 2nd party partners will definitely want to use either their own internal engines or Unreal 5 most likely, whichever they are currently using. I would definitely expect to see 2nd party singleplayer Halo games on Unreal and such if we are in scenario 2. Scenario 1 on the other hand, 343 will likely upgrade Slipspace for the next mainline Halo, hopefully making it easier to use in the process. 

4. I definitely don't think there is any need for 2nd party Halo singleplayer games to be on Slipspace, as long as 343's own MP and Forge remain Slipspace, at least the engine is being used by someone. I can't see 2nd party partners wanting to use it though, and it will be much harder to find quality 2nd party partners capable of AAA development if 343 tries to force Slipspace usage on them. 

5. Slipspace will definitely be either upgraded or replaced internally at 343 for future multiplayer Halo products in either scenario. Rather it will be Slipspace 2.0 or an all-new internal engine, I can't say, but I can't see 343 deciding to switch to Unreal 5 or something.