American video game developer
343 Industries
is an American
video game developer
located in
Redmond, Washington
, part of
Xbox Game Studios
. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the
Halo
series of
military science fiction
games, originally created and produced by
Bungie
, and is the developer of the Slipspace Engine. Named after the
Halo
character
343 Guilty Spark
, the studio was established in 2007 after the departure of Bungie after the release of Halo 3.
After co-developing
downloadable content
for
Halo: Reach
, Bungie's final
Halo
game, 343 Industries released
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
and
Halo 4
, the latter starting the studio's "
Reclaimer Saga
" of the mainline games.
Formation
[
edit
]
Bungie
was a video game developer working on their next project when they were acquired by Microsoft in 2000. Their in-development game,
Halo: Combat Evolved
, turned into a launch title for Microsoft's
Xbox console
. Bungie and Microsoft's cultures never meshed, and after the release of
Halo 2
Bungie began renegotiating for better profit sharing for their next game,
Halo 3
. These discussions led to Bungie announcing its independence from Microsoft in 2007. While Bungie was still contracted to deliver new
Halo
games, the rights to the franchise remained with Microsoft.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Xbox general manager
Bonnie Ross
recalled that her colleagues felt
Halo
was a waning property and looked at contracting an outside company to produce new games;
[5]
[6]
: 21:45?23:00
the series's deep backstory and universe appealed to Ross, and she argued for a different approach.
[6]
: 26:15?27:05
Ross' pitch won over Microsoft Game Studios general manager Shane Kim, and she was put in charge of a new internal
Halo
studio, 343 Industries, named after the
Halo
character
343 Guilty Spark
.
[3]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
343 Industries started with a staff of roughly a dozen people in late 2007.
[6]
: 28:22
Bungie staffer Frank O'Connor assisted in the transition, and quit Bungie to serve as 343 Industries' franchise director.
[5]
[1]
Ross' vision for
Halo
also impressed Microsoft art director
Kiki Wolfkill
, who joined the team as a studio head.
[1]
During the transition, 343 Industries worked with the company Starlight Runner to interview Bungie staff and compile a centralized story bible for the universe. 343 Industries also worked with Bungie on their last
Halo
projects,
Halo 3: ODST
(2009) and
Reach
(2010).
[6]
: 30:50
[11]
[12]
[
failed verification
]
Development
[
edit
]
In July 2009, it was announced that 343 Industries was working on a seven-part
Halo
anime series called
Halo Legends
.
[13]
Later that year the studio created Halo Waypoint, a downloadable application that tracks a user's
Halo
accomplishments.
[14]
343 Industries also increased staff for
Halo
development, recruiting staff from the defunct
Pandemic Studios
.
[15]
343 Industries also collaborated with
Certain Affinity
on
Halo: Reach
'
s second and third map packs. The company was responsible for the remastered version of
Halo: Combat Evolved
, titled
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
, which was released on November 15, 2011, to celebrate the 10th year since the release of the first franchise installment on November 15, 2001.
Following Bungie's completion of their last Halo title,
Halo: Reach
, 343 Industries was eventually given complete control of the
Halo
franchise including servers and data on March 31, 2012. The studio's development of
Halo 4
, which began in 2009, was completed in September.
[16]
It was released on November 6, 2012, as the first title of a new
Halo
Reclaimer Trilogy which will include at least two more installments over the years. At E3 2013, Microsoft and 343 Industries announced the next "Halo" installment set for release on the Xbox One. Shortly after the announcement, the Reclaimer Trilogy was confirmed by Microsoft Studios corporate vice-president
Phil Spencer
to be expanded into a Reclaimer Saga.
[17]
The following year at E3 2014, the official title was revealed as "Halo 5: Guardians" along with plans for its release on October 27, 2015. Microsoft, in a contract with
Mega Bloks
, is in conjunction with 343 Industries to manufacture a new line of toys and other memorabilia for the upcoming
Halo
saga.
[18]
Halo 5: Guardians
was released on October 27, 2015, with semi-exclusive content to those who purchased select Mega Bloks sets. 343 Industries has since released free monthly content updates since Halo 5's launch.
At
E3 2018
, Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries announced the next
Halo
game, titled
Halo Infinite
, which was originally scheduled to launch in holiday 2020 for Xbox One and Windows PCs, in addition to being a launch title for the next Xbox console, the
Xbox Series X
.
[19]
However, the game was delayed to release in 2021, in part due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
forcing the 343 staff to switch to
remote work
.
[20]
Infinite
was the first game to be developed using 343's in-house Slipspace Engine.
[21]
After
Infinite
'
s release, 343 Industries supported the game via updates. On September 12, 2022, Bonnie Ross announced she would step down as studio head. Following her departure, her responsibilities were split into three positions. Pierre Hintze took over as studio head, Bryan Koski became GM of the franchise and Elizabeth Van Wyck took over business and operations.
[22]
Amid wider layoffs in the tech industry and Microsoft, 343 Industries was heavily affected,
[23]
and
Bloomberg News
reported the studio would be making large changes to its development structure going forward.
[24]
Games developed
[
edit
]
Year
|
Game
|
Platform(s)
|
Notes
|
2011
|
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
[25]
|
Xbox 360
|
Collaboration with Saber Interactive
|
2012
|
Halo 4
[26]
|
Collaboration with Certain Affinity
|
2013
|
Halo: Spartan Assault
[27]
|
iOS
,
Microsoft Windows
,
Windows Phone
, Xbox 360,
Xbox One
|
Collaboration with Vanguard Games
|
2014
|
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
[28]
|
Xbox One, Microsoft Windows,
Xbox Series X/S
|
Includes
Halo: Reach
,
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
,
Halo 2 Anniversary
,
Halo 3
,
Halo 3: ODST
and
Halo 4
|
2015
|
Halo: Spartan Strike
[29]
|
iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone
|
Collaboration with Vanguard Games
|
2015
|
Halo 5: Guardians
[30]
|
Xbox One
|
Halo 5: Forge
was released on Microsoft Windows
|
2016
|
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition
|
Microsoft Windows, Xbox One
|
Collaboration with
Behaviour Interactive
|
2017
|
Halo Wars 2
|
Collaboration with
Creative Assembly
|
Halo Recruit
|
Microsoft Windows
|
Collaboration with Endeavor One
|
2018
|
Halo: Fireteam Raven
|
Arcade
|
Collaboration with Play Mechanix and Endeavor One
|
2021
|
Halo Infinite
[31]
|
Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
|
Collaboration with
SkyBox Labs
, Sperasoft,
The Coalition
and
Certain Affinity
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Haske, Steven (May 30, 2017).
"The Complete, Untold History of Halo"
.
Vice
. Vice Media.
Archived
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. Retrieved
March 27,
2018
.
- ^
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.
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.
Archived
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. Retrieved
April 19,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Milian, Mark (May 11, 2011).
"Halo' and creators move on after divorce"
. CNN.
Archived
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. Retrieved
January 5,
2013
.
- ^
Romano, Benjamin (October 6, 2007).
"Microsoft, "Halo" maker Bungie split"
. Business / Technology.
The Seattle Times
. Archived from
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on October 18, 2012
. Retrieved
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2013
.
- ^
a
b
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.
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.
Archived
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. Retrieved
April 11,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
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.
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Archived
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
Marie, Meagan (December 4, 2018). "Bonnie Ross".
Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play
.
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. pp. 94?95.
ISBN
978-0-744-01993-3
.
- ^
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. pp. 94?97.
- ^
Thorsen, Tor (July 20, 2009).
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. Archived from
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on October 3, 2013
. Retrieved
January 6,
2013
.
- ^
Vore, Bryan (November 2011). "Taking Over 'Halo'
".
Game Informer
. Vol. 11, no. 223. pp. 28?33.
ISSN
1067-6392
.
- ^
Smith, Kevin (December 5, 2011).
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.
Official Xbox Magazine
. Archived from
the original
on February 11, 2012.
- ^
Reilly, Jim (April 29, 2010).
"Halo: Reach Will Be Bungie's Last Halo Game"
.
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Archived
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. Retrieved
February 25,
2024
.
- ^
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"Halo Anime In The Works"
. Archived from
the original
on June 17, 2013
. Retrieved
January 5,
2013
.
- ^
McWhertor, Michael (July 25, 2009).
"Comic-Con 09"
. kotaku.com.
Archived
from the original on July 26, 2009
. Retrieved
December 6,
2011
.
- ^
"Microsoft hires ex-Pandemic members for new Halo game"
. gamer.blorge.com. November 21, 2010. Archived from
the original
on July 8, 2011
. Retrieved
June 2,
2011
.
- ^
Mallory, Jordan (March 29, 2013).
"What went wrong with Halo 4's Prometheans"
.
Engadget
.
AOL
.
Archived
from the original on April 2, 2013
. Retrieved
April 3,
2013
.
- ^
"Reclaimer Saga"
.
IGN
. June 21, 2013.
Archived
from the original on June 23, 2013
. Retrieved
August 24,
2013
.
- ^
"Mega Brands and Microsoft Game Studios Renew Global Licensing Partnership"
.
Electronics Business Journal
. June 2011. Archived from
the original
on October 16, 2014
. Retrieved
June 9,
2013
.
- ^
"
'Halo Infinite' arrives holiday 2020 alongside the new Xbox"
.
Engadget
. June 9, 2019.
Archived
from the original on June 9, 2019
. Retrieved
June 22,
2019
.
- ^
"Halo Infinite Development Update"
.
Halo Waypoint
. August 11, 2020.
Archived
from the original on November 26, 2020
. Retrieved
November 26,
2020
.
- ^
"Halo Infinite ? Our Journey Begins"
.
Halo Waypoint
. June 10, 2018.
Archived
from the original on June 10, 2018
. Retrieved
June 11,
2018
.
- ^
Carpenter, Nicole (September 12, 2022).
"Halo boss Bonnie Ross steps down as head of 343 Industries"
.
Polygon
. Retrieved
September 12,
2022
.
- ^
Winslow, Levi (January 18, 2023).
"Microsoft Slashes 10K Jobs, Including At Xbox And Halo Studios"
.
Kotaku
. Retrieved
January 19,
2023
.
- ^
Schrier, Jason
(January 31, 2023).
"Microsoft Studio Behind Halo Faces a Reboot on Years of Turmoil"
.
Bloomberg News
. Retrieved
January 31,
2023
.
- ^
"Microsoft leaks details about next Halo game"
.
VentureBeat
. June 6, 2011.
Archived
from the original on June 8, 2011
. Retrieved
August 6,
2012
.
- ^
"Microsoft E3 landing page leaks Kinect upgrades, Halo 4 news"
.
Digital Trends
. June 6, 2011.
Archived
from the original on June 9, 2011
. Retrieved
August 6,
2012
.
- ^
"Halo: Spartan Assault Halo Official Site"
. Archived from
the original
on June 8, 2013
. Retrieved
June 9,
2013
.
- ^
"Halo the Master Chief Collection"
. June 9, 2014.
Archived
from the original on June 10, 2014
. Retrieved
June 10,
2014
.
- ^
"Halo: Spartan Strike Comes to Microsoft Windows Devices and Steam this December"
.
Xbox Wire
.
Microsoft
. October 16, 2014.
Archived
from the original on October 18, 2014
. Retrieved
October 20,
2014
.
- ^
"The Halo Journey"
. May 16, 2014.
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2014
. Retrieved
May 16,
2014
.
- ^
"Halo 6 Already In the Works"
.
CINEMABLEND
. September 27, 2015.
Archived
from the original on May 20, 2017
. Retrieved
May 24,
2017
.
- ^
Makuch, Eddie (July 27, 2018).
"Halo Infinite Adds A Co-Developer"
.
GameSpot
.
Archived
from the original on July 27, 2018
. Retrieved
July 27,
2018
.
- ^
"Sperasoft Collaborates with 343 Industries on Halo Infinite Development"
.
Sperasoft
. August 4, 2020.
Archived
from the original on August 9, 2020
. Retrieved
August 26,
2020
.
- ^
"Halo Infinite Received Help From Gears Studio, The Coalition"
.
Game Informer
. February 24, 2021.
Archived
from the original on February 25, 2021
. Retrieved
February 25,
2021
.
- ^
"Certain Affinity Reveals Ongoing Partnership with 343 Industries on Halo Infinite"
.
Certain Affinity
. August 26, 2020.
Archived
from the original on August 27, 2020
. Retrieved
August 26,
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]
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subsidiaries
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