343 Industries
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.
| Type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Bonnie Ross |
| Headquarters | , US |
Key people | Pierre Hintze (studio head) |
| Products | Halo series |
Number of employees | 450[1] (2016) |
| Parent | Xbox Game Studios |
| Website | 343industries.com |
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.
History
Formation
Developer Bungie were acquired by Microsoft in 2000, and their in-development project Halo turned into a launch title for Microsoft's Xbox console. In 2007, shortly after shipping Halo 3, Bungie announced its split from Microsoft. The rights to Halo remained with the latter.[2][3][4] To oversee the Halo franchise, Microsoft created 343 Industries that same year,[1] named after Halo character 343 Guilty Spark.[3][5][6] Bungie continued making Halo games until Halo: Reach in 2010.[7]
Development
In July 2009, it was announced that 343 Industries was working on a seven-part Halo anime series called Halo Legends.[8] Later that year the studio created Halo Waypoint, a downloadable application that tracks a user's Halo accomplishments.[9] 343i also increased staff for Halo development, recruiting 20 staff from the now defunct Pandemic Studios.[10] 343i also developed Halo: Reach's second and third map packs, entitled "Defiant" and "Anniversary" respectively, in conjunction with Certain Affinity. 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.[11] 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 343i 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.[12] 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 343i to manufacture a new line of toys and other memorabilia for the upcoming Halo saga.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] Infinite was the first game to be developed using 343's in-house Slipspace Engine.[16]
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.[17] Amid wider layoffs in the tech industry and Microsoft, 343 was heavily affected.[18]
Games developed
| Year | Game | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary[19] | Xbox 360 | Collaboration with Saber Interactive, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was re-released on Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S on the Master Chief Collection |
| 2012 | Halo 4[20] | Halo 4 was re-released on Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S on the Master Chief Collection | |
| 2013 | Halo: Spartan Assault[21] | iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Collaboration with Vanguard Games |
| 2014 | Halo: The Master Chief Collection[22] | 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[23] | iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone | Collaboration with Vanguard Games |
| 2015 | Halo 5: Guardians[24] | 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 Cabinet | Collaboration with Play Mechanix and Endeavor One |
| 2021 | Halo Infinite[25] | Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | Collaboration with SkyBox Labs, Sperasoft, The Coalition and Certain Affinity[26][27][28][29] |
References
- ^ a b Smith, Edward (2016). "Studio Profile: 343 Industries". Edge. No. 300. Future Publishing. pp. 94–97.
- ^ "Why the makers of Halo are splitting from Microsoft". Fortune. from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- ^ a b Milian, Mark (May 11, 2011). "Halo' and creators move on after divorce". CNN. from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
- ^ Romano, Benjamin (October 6, 2007). "Microsoft, "Halo" maker Bungie split". The Seattle Times. from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ Thorsen, Tor (July 20, 2009). . Archived from the original 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.
- ^ "Halo: Reach Will Be Bungie's Last Halo Game". IGN. April 29, 2010. from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ Norris, Erik (July 23, 2009). . Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
- ^ McWhertor, Michael (July 25, 2009). "Comic-Con 09". kotaku.com. from the original on July 26, 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
- ^ . 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. from the original on April 2, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ "Reclaimer Saga". IGN. June 21, 2013. from the original on June 23, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
- ^ . 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. from the original on June 9, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
- ^ "Halo Infinite Development Update". Halo Waypoint. August 11, 2020. from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
- ^ "Halo Infinite – Our Journey Begins". Halo Waypoint. June 10, 2018. 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.
- ^ "Microsoft leaks details about next Halo game". VentureBeat. June 6, 2011. 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. from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
- ^ . Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
- ^ "Halo the Master Chief Collection". June 9, 2014. 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. from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
- ^ "The Halo Journey". May 16, 2014. from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
- ^ "Halo 6 Already In the Works". CINEMABLEND. September 27, 2015. from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (July 27, 2018). "Halo Infinite Adds A Co-Developer". GameSpot. from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
- ^ "Sperasoft Collaborates with 343 Industries on Halo Infinite Development". Sperasoft. August 4, 2020. 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. 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. from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
External links
- Official website