Halo has had a interval of tumultuous latest years beneath the event umbrella of 343 Industries. The iconic Xbox franchise, that laid down the blueprint for first-person multiplayer shooters throughout its heyday, has faltered with latest releases. Halo Infinite, which got here out in 2021, obtained crucial acclaim at launch, however followers cooled off on the title as 343 scrambled to push out well timed seasonal multiplayer updates to hold gamers hooked. While Halo Infinite noticed a resurgence in participant depend when its season 5 content material launched late final yr, the sport’s unannounced battle royale mode has reportedly been cancelled.
The info comes from XboxPeriod co-founder Shpeshal_Nick — as reported by Eurogamer — who went on the XboxPeriod podcast Monday and mentioned that long-gestating Halo battle royale venture, codenamed Tatanka, was rumoured to be not in growth. “I got a DM about it last week, that Tatanka has been cancelled,” Nick mentioned on the podcast.
The Halo infinite battle royale mode was being co-developed by Certain Affinity. Back in April 2022, the developer had mentioned it was deepening its relationship with 343 industries. “We’ve been part of the Halo franchise for more than 15 years and we’re honored to say we are deepening our relationship with 343 and have been entrusted with further evolving Halo Infinite in some new and exciting ways,” Certain Affinity had mentioned. And whereas 343 has remained tight-lipped in regards to the battle royale mode, Certain Affinity had hinted on the similar in late 2022, confirming that the corporate had been the event lead on the unannounced Halo venture for greater than two years with shut to 100 builders engaged on it. “It’s something big and new for the franchise. But I can’t say any more about it,” Certain Affinity COO Paul Sams had informed Venture Beat in September 2022.
Reacting to the knowledge from the XboxPeriod podcast, online game historian and leaker Liam Robertson additionally confirmed the cancellation of the Halo battle royale venture in a publish on X Tuesday. “I talked about this last year and I can back this up. I researched it a bit. However, I think it was cancelled even earlier than this claims but yes, it was 2022,” he mentioned.
Appreciate the clarification, however we weren’t even attempting to verify whether or not one thing that technically has by no means been introduced…has been cancelled.
We thought (clearly mistakenly) we have been having an off hand dialogue about another person’s hearsay… https://t.co/d6GVwYwyWD
— “Good guesser” Nick (@Shpeshal_Nick) January 16, 2024
Early final yr, within the wake of a spate of layoffs at Microsoft that impacted builders at The Coalition, Bethesda Game Studios, and 343 Industries, the Halo maker had assured followers that it will proceed growth on the franchise “now and in the future.” This got here after rumours that claimed growth on future Halo video games have been being handed over to a third-party studio, with 343 Industries being moved to a supervisory position.
343 Industries additionally noticed a flurry of high-level departures because the launch of Halo Infinite, hinting at instability on the studio. 343 founder and lead Bernie Ross, who had labored on Halo titles for 15 years, stepped down in September 2022. The studio additionally went by restructuring, with Bryan Koski, who beforehand took care of promoting for Halo, turning into GM of the franchise, whereas Elizabeth Van Wyck heading enterprise and operations.
Halo Infinite obtained its Season 5: Reckoning replace in October final yr, bringing two new maps, a reimagined Halo 4 Extraction mode, a brand new 50-tier Premium Battle Pass and different further content material. The season 5 launch additionally launched new updates to Forge, the Halo mode that permits gamers to create and edit multiplayer maps, bringing within the capability for gamers to populate their customized maps with associates and foes from the Halo Infinite marketing campaign.
