There may be bad news forHalofans, as a recent report indicates 343 Industries canceled plans for newHalo Infinitestory content. This news comes as343 Industries undergoes massive layoffs and other internal shakeups.
Halo Infiniteexperienced a troubled development cycle, facing multiple delays and launching without key features like a co-op campaign and the Forge map editor. The former was a core part of the series sinceHalo: Combat Evolved, andInfinite’s version still hasn’t launched over a year later. While the COVID-19 pandemic caused some of the game’s development problems,Halo Infinite’s controversial Slipspace engine also contributed to the studio’s difficulties.
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According to a report by Bloomberg tech contributor Jason Shrier, 343 is going through a substantial studio reboot. This shakeup reputedly includes leadership changes and massive layoffs, thoughMicrosoft maintains that 343 is vital toHalo’s future. Among the changes is transitioning away from the limited Slipspace engine and towards Unreal Engine 5. And while Season 3: “Echoes Within” is still set to launch in March, 343 has reportedly canceled development on new story missions forHalo Infinite.
There’s not much information about these canceled story missions.Halo Infinite’s post-credit scene showsHalo Wars 2antagonist Atriox unsealing a chamber where more of the Endless are being held. Meanwhile, the post-credits scene for completingHalo Infiniteon Legendary Difficulty teases the return of a powerful Forerunner military AI called Offensive Bias. While these scenes likely foreshadow the next fullHalotitle, one or both may have been setting upHaloInfinite’s story expansions. Alternately,Infinite’s new story missions might have helped to bridge the gap between games.
That is all speculation, and there is no way to know what these missions would have looked like if they ever saw the light of day. However, the studio is still working onHalo Infinite’s upcoming Season 3content, featuring a new Fracture event, new Armor, three new maps, two new multiplayer modes, new sandbox items, and more. Developers initially planned to launch it in November 2022, but 343 Industries pushed its release date back to July 11, 2025.
343 Industries also partnered with Certain Affinity, who worked with Bungie, and 343 on multipleHalogames, includingInfinite. The two studios are cooperating on an upcomingHaloproject codenamedTatanka, which developers originally intended as a battle royale. However, that may or may not still be the plan.Tatankawill, however, be the firstHalogame developed in Unreal Engine, with 343 spending much of last year developing prototypes.
Halo Infiniteis available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
