I’d hope not, if you put a studio who doesn’t want to work on an IP anymore you get another 343.

Yeah, this is a really shit move by Xbox. They've already greatly backed off on Japan shipments the last 2 months or so, we were once seeing like 6 and 7k shipments, but they have fallen to like 1k a week or less recently even though the larger shipments were still selling out when they were sending them. Now they are raising the price by roughly the equivalent of $50, claiming it is due to currency exchange fluctuations, but that can't be true because while the value of the yen started falling last March, it hit the bottom of that fall in October and has since recovered from .007 to .008 from a high of .009, so roughly half of it's value is almost back already just since October.

Shit moves like this are going to kill Japanese game support on Xbox further, when more than half of the 2023 Japanese games are already skipping Xbox. Sigh.

Yeah, Iron Galaxy made a really bad call turning down a new KI game. Both of their last 2 games have flopped hard, Extinction and Rumbleverse. This is isn't the first time we have seen Xbox 1st/2nd party studios make really bad decisions though, Press Play and Twisted Pixel both asked to be let go by Xbox, Press Play ended up shutting down and reforming as Flashbulb Games who as far as I know have yet to make a successful game, while Twisted Pixel ended up only staying indie for like 5 years before Oculus bought them to make first party VR games, they went from making great games like The Maw and 'Splosion Man, to making VR games that are so inconsequential they don't even have their own Wikipedia pages (only 1 of their 4 VR games has one, Wilson's Heart).

Just a slight correction, Press Play was shutdown by Microsoft, only Twisted Pixel was allowed to spinoff.

Press Play employees went on to form Flashbulb Games and Ghost Ship Games, both of those studios working on IP which were part of the 3 IP that Press Play pitched to the public (Karoo, Knoxville and Dwarka). Knoxville is what Press Play attempted, Karoo became Trailmakers under Flashbulb Games and Dwarka became Deep Rock Galactic (extremely successful) under Ghost Ship Games.

If the public had voted on Dwarka then Press Play would have done Deep Rock Galactic instead of Knoxville and Press Play would probably still be alive.

343 is moving to Unreal

Honestly, that is for the best if true, considering how much Slipspace engine overhyped and underdelivered, plus what we've heard about the extreme development difficulties it caused. At least with Unreal we know that studios like Ninja Theory and The Coalition, who are both top tier masters of Unreal development, will be able to help them pull off great things graphically, and development will go alot smoother on Unreal as well, easier to use, easier to hire people since you don't have to train them in using Slipspac. Has automation features that speed development as well, a high quality open source texture library so you don't have to spend a ton of time handcrafting every texture in the game, automatic scene lighting tech, automatic graphics optimization for a given set of specs, etc.

However, really shit if they are going MP only in the near future. Leaving the singleplayer Halo fans hanging, without even a spinoff game (such as a follow-up to ODST focused on the same characters who are now Spartan 4's), is a really bad call by 343/Xbox.

There goes another internal engine in favour of Unreal Engine

I'm a bit worried about switching engines, I hope it still "feels" like Halo and things like Forge are still possible.

Having said that, if Microsoft wasn't willing to staff up 343 further then ultimately an engine swap was inevitable and will likely be for the best.

As I said though, this is essentially a studio reboot, Pierre will rebuild almost a new team, anyone who didn't want 343i working on Halo anymore should be happy...This is 343i in name only at this rate, in fact I'd say they probably should change the name.

But after a leadership overhaul, mass layoffs and a host of big changes, the outfit is all but starting from scratch.

The Redmond, Washington-based 343 Industries released its latest game, Halo Infinite, in December 2021 to widespread critical acclaim. It was seen as a redemption story for a title that suffered multiple delays, endless development problems and a merry-go-round of creative leads. But in the months that followed, fans turned against the game, complaining about a thin road map and the slow rollout of features that had been expected on day one. At the same time, 343 was seemingly losing staff by the week and went through a major leadership change last fall that led some employees to brace for a reorganization.

While Microsoft declined to provide specific figures, at least 95 people at the company have lost their jobs, according to a spreadsheet of affected employees reviewed by Bloomberg. The list named dozens of veterans including top directors and contractors, upon which the studio heavily relies.

Chief among them is a pivot to a new gaming engine, the suite of tools and technology used to make video games. The studio's own engine, known publicly as Slipspace, has been one of the biggest points of contention over the past two decades. Based largely on old code from the 1990s and early 2000s, it's buggy and difficult to use and has been the source of headaches for some developers on Halo Infinite, people familiar with the development said. Several multiplayer modes that are nearly finished, such as Extraction and Assault, both popular in previous Halo games, have yet to be released in part because of issues involving the engine, they said.

At several points over the past decade, management at 343 debated switching to Epic Games Inc.'s popular Unreal Engine. But it wasn't until late last year, when previous studio head Bonnie Ross and engine lead David Berger departed and Pierre Hintze took over, that the firm finally decided to pivot to Unreal. This switch will start with a new game code-named Tatanka, according to people familiar with the plans. That project, which 343 is developing alongside the Austin, Texas-based game studio Certain Affinity, started off as a battle royale but may evolve in different directions, the people said. Future games in the series will also explore using the Unreal Engine, which may make development easier, although internal skeptics are worried that the switch may have a negative impact on the way Halo games feel to play. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on issues with the engine or on the company's plans to pivot to Unreal.

Since Halo Infinite was released, fans had assumed that in addition to new multiplayer modes, 343 was working on new content for the story. But that wasn't the case, according to the people familiar with the situation. Developers were making prototypes in the Unreal Engine and pitching ideas for new Halo games rather than working on new missions for Halo Infinite. Many of those developers were laid off this month and the company isn't actively working on new story content, the people said. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.

In the eyes of some observers and former 343 employees, the reorganization was a long time coming.

RIP Halo singleplayer, 2001-2021. Press F everyone.