The news coming out of Halo developer 343 Industries has not been encouraging lately. A number of high profile names, including Bonnie Ross and Joe Staten, have left, and the studio was reportedly “hit hard” in Microsoft’s recent round of layoffs. Rumors have also circulated that Halo development would largely be handed over to new studios going forward, although new 343 boss Pierre Hintze refuted that.
From the outside, it’s hard to assess exactly how bad the situation is at 343, but we do know another longtime member of the studio’s leadership team has left. The awesomely-named Kiki Wolfkill, who was in charge of “Halo Transmedia,” most notably the Halo TV series on Paramount+, has left 343, although she will continue on in a new role at Microsoft. The Halo series has received middling to poor reviews from critics and viewers alike, with many criticizing how it departs from the source material.
Despite the clues that things aren’t going well at 343 Industries, Xbox boss Phil Spencer continues to insist that 343 Industries will be “critically important” to the future of Halo.
“What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team [at 343 Industries] is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build. And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo.
In terms of support studios and other things, that’s just part of development and having other partners help us. But the heart and soul of Halo is with 343 and the team that’s there, and I have the utmost confidence in the team that’s there and leading and the plan that they have going forward.”
In the same interview, Spencer also notably dodged the question when asked if Halo Infinite’s previously-promised 10 years of support was still happening. Will some sort of entity known as 343 Industries continue to exist and have a role in future Halo games? Most likely! Will it resemble the 343 that’s existed until now? That’s the question.
Halo Infinite can be played on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Halo TV series has been renewed for a second season, but no launch date has been set.
