Halo developer may drop its own game engine, possibly shifting to Unreal

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries might forgo its own game engine in favor of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, according to journalist Jeremy Penter.

343 will reportedly be making the switch to Unreal Engine. No reason was specified by Penter, though he said the Unreal Engine is a “great choice.”

“I can only confirm that many sources are saying this and very clear that it’s already been decided, and Halo is for sure switching to Unreal,” Penter said. “Unreal is a great choice.”

If this happens to be true, then 343 would be abandoning its own Slipspace Engine game creator that was used to develop Halo Infinite. The game saw some delays last year for its Xbox Series X|S release, as well as a ton of performance issues during launch. This might have caused 343 to decide to shift to the Unreal Engine, which is one of the most popular game engines available today.

The decision of choosing Unreal could also be a move made under the new leadership team of 343. Last month, Pierre Hintze, the company’s former head of production, was promoted to the studio head role. This came after the departure of its former studio head, Bonnie Ross, who departed from 343 to attend to a family medical issue.

Other leadership changes in 343 include the appointment of former marketing head for Halo, Bryan Koski, as the franchise’s new general manager. As for the game itself, Halo Infinite is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.