Halo Studios, formerly known as 343 Industries, is an American video game company located in Redmond, Washington. It is part of Xbox Game Studios and is led by Pierre Hintze. The studio manages the Halo science fiction game series, creating Halo games on its own and with other studios. It was founded in 2007 to take care of the Halo franchise after the original developer, Bungie, became independent from Microsoft. The company was originally named after a character called 343 Guilty Spark.
After helping create extra game content for Halo: Reach, which was Bungie’s last Halo game, 343 Industries released Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4. Halo 4 began the studio’s "Reclaimer Saga," a series of main Halo games that included Halo 5: Guardians (2015) and ended with Halo Infinite in 2021. In October 2024, the studio changed its name to Halo Studios.
History
Bungie was a video game company working on a new game when Microsoft bought it in 2000. The game they were making, Halo: Combat Evolved, became one of the first games released for Microsoft’s Xbox console. Bungie and Microsoft had different company cultures, and after Halo 2 was released, Bungie asked for a better share of the profits from their next game, Halo 3. These talks led to Bungie announcing in 2007 that it would no longer work for Microsoft. Even though Bungie still made new Halo games, Microsoft kept the rights to the Halo franchise. Microsoft’s Xbox manager, Bonnie Ross, believed Halo was becoming less popular and wanted to hire an outside company to make new games. She argued that Halo’s rich story and universe were valuable, and her idea convinced Microsoft’s game manager, Shane Kim. Ross was then placed in charge of a new team inside Microsoft called 343 Industries, named after a Halo character.
343 Industries began with about 12 employees in late 2007. A former Bungie employee, Frank O’Connor, helped during the transition and later became 343’s franchise director. Ross’s vision for Halo also impressed Microsoft’s art director, Kiki Wolfkill, who joined 343 as a studio head. During the transition, 343 worked with Starlight Runner to create a central guide for Halo’s story and universe.
In July 2009, 343 announced a seven-part Halo anime series called Halo Legends. Later that year, the studio created Halo Waypoint, a downloadable app that tracks Halo achievements. 343 also hired more staff for Halo development, bringing in workers from the closed Pandemic Studios. The studio collaborated with Certain Affinity on Halo: Reach’s map packs. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Halo: Combat Evolved, 343 hired Saber Interactive to make Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which was released on November 15, 2011.
After Bungie finished Halo: Reach, 343 gained full control of the Halo franchise, including servers and data, on March 31, 2012. The studio worked on Halo 4, which started in 2009 and was released on November 6, 2012. This game began a new trilogy called the Reclaimer Trilogy, which would include at least two more games. At E3 2013, Microsoft and 343 announced the next Halo game for the Xbox One. Later, Microsoft confirmed the Reclaimer Trilogy would expand into a Reclaimer Saga. At E3 2014, the next game was named Halo 5: Guardians, with a release date of October 27, 2015. Microsoft partnered with Mega Bloks to create new toys and memorabilia for the Halo saga. Halo 5: Guardians was released on October 27, 2015, with special content for buyers of select Mega Bloks sets. 343 released free monthly updates for Halo 5 after its launch.
At E3 2018, Microsoft and 343 announced Halo Infinite, originally planned for 2020 for Xbox One, Windows PCs, and the next Xbox console, the Xbox Series X. The game was delayed until 2021 partly because the COVID-19 pandemic required 343 staff to work remotely. Infinite was developed using 343’s Slipspace Engine.
After Infinite was released, 343 supported the game with updates. On September 12, 2022, Bonnie Ross announced she would leave her role as studio head. Her responsibilities were divided among three new leaders: Pierre Hintze became studio head, Bryan Koski became franchise manager, and Elizabeth Van Wyck took over business and operations. 343 faced challenges due to Microsoft and tech industry layoffs, with Bloomberg News reporting major changes to the studio’s structure.
In October 2024, 343 announced it would rebrand as Halo Studios, shifting to Unreal Engine 5 for future projects instead of its Slipspace Engine. A Halo Waypoint blog post in July 2025 said Halo Studios would reveal its first Unreal Engine 5 project during the October Halo World Championships. The studio faced internal layoffs linked to Microsoft’s reorganizations, with a former employee telling Engadget that tensions had grown over unspecified projects in crisis. The employee also noted that Microsoft was shifting Halo development to work with outside studios in the U.S. and Europe, similar to how games like Call of Duty and Battlefield are made. More layoffs occurred in 2025 as part of broader Microsoft cuts, with sources reporting dissatisfaction and tension at the studio.