A sequel to Halo Infinite was reportedly once in development at Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) before Microsoft cancelled the project after laying off staff at the company in January 2023. Fans hoping for Halo Infinite 2 might have to adjust their expectations as it seems like we’ll be getting more Halo projects in the future but they won’t be a continuation of the 2021 game.
The report comes from reliable leaker extas1s who claims that Halo Infinite 2 was in development at 343 Industries before Microsoft hit the studio with layoffs back in January 2023. The sequel was apparently being built in the Slipspace Engine, similar to the first game, before its cancellation which caused the company to switch engines to Unreal Engine 5. This was all recently confirmed by Microsoft itself, which officially announced that new Halo games built in Epic’s engine were on the way.
“343 Industries began work on Halo Infinite 2 in the Slipspace engine,” extas1s wrote on Twitter/X. “Development continued until new leadership took over in late 2022 and that new team decided to switch to Unreal Engine 5, forcing the creative team to transition to the new engine.”
The leaker added:
“Eventually, Microsoft laid off the entire creative team in January 2023 due to cutbacks and the project seemingly failing to move forward. Halo Infinite 2 was being developed alongside Project Tatanka, but both were ultimately cancelled to make way for a ‘reboot’ or ‘new direction’ for the franchise.”
The leak mentions that the battle royale Project Tatanka, which was rumoured to be in development since 2022, was also scrapped alongside Halo Infinite 2.
We may never know what 343 Industries’ original plans were for the Halo Infinite sequel at this point. Some ideas could be carried over and expanded upon from the first game, such as the semi-open world structure and closer connections to the roots of the franchise. More depressingly for fans, it seems like we’ll never get to see what an official Halo battle royale looks like. As with all reports and rumours, take this with a pinch of salt.
Source: extas1s
