Summary
Xbox could reveal a newHalogame at some point this year, according to an industry insider. Sentiment surrounding Xbox’s major sci-fi FPS franchiseHalohas been rocky following the release ofHalo Infinitein 2021. 343 Industries initially struggled to find its footing with being able to provide timely updates to its activeHalo Infiniteplayerbase. However, its output has improved in more recent seasons, but that hasn’t kept fans from wondering about what’s next forHalo.
This past October marked a huge shift for Xbox’sHaloteam, 343 Industries. The studio announced that it has changed its name to Halo Studios, confirming that its sole focus will be theHalofranchise, as it’s always been. In conjunction with the studio’s name change, Halo Studios also revealed that it’s moving away from its Slipspace Engine, which was created forHalo Infinite, and will instead useEpic’s Unreal Engine 5for all futureHaloprojects.
Now, it seems Halo Studios is firing on all cylinders following its engine swap. Industry insider Rebs Gamingposted a video on YouTubetalking about a newXbox LinkedIn postthat mentions Halo Studios' expanded playtesting setup. As part of the post, Halo Studios' Playtest Manager Susan Bunch says “When the Project Foundry Team was working on Unreal explorations, we set up a playtest session for the artists and designers to come in and play similar maps in production.” It’s this mention of maps that are in active production that’s led Rebs Gaming to believea newHaloannouncement could be comingsooner rather than later.
New Halo Game Reveal Could Happen in 2025, According to Insider
It’s been known thatHalo Infinite’s Slipspace engine took a long time to build and was the likely culprit of there being such a large gap betweenHalo 5: Guardians,which was released in 2015, andHalo Infinite, which was released in 2021. Using Unreal Engine 5 may allow for Halo Studios to put out newHalogames more frequently than in the past, and have an easier time adding new content to its multiplayer suites. There’s also the heavily rumoredHalo: Combat Evolvedremake that may still be on the table. If this nextHalogame really is turning around this quickly since switching to Unreal, and a 2025 reveal turns out to be true, it could be a smaller-scoped spin-off title, andHalo Studios could have something bigger planneddown the road.
If a newHalogame was to be revealed this year, it would mean that the game would likely be due out in 2026, 2027, or later depending on its scope. As for when a reveal might occur,Xbox’s imminent Developer Direct, which goes live next week, doesn’t seem likely with three of the four games already confirmed, and the fourth game heavily rumored to be a Japanese IP. Instead, Xbox’s annual Summer Game Fest showcase in June would be the right place for Xbox to unveil its nextHalotitle, though this 2025Haloreveal is just a rumor.
