343 Industries

343 Industries is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Redmond, Washington. Headed by Bonnie Ross, 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, following the departure of Bungie from Xbox Game Studios, then called Microsoft Game Studios. After co-developing downloadable content for Halo: Reach, Bungie's final Halo game, 343 Industries released Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4 to critical and commercial success – the latter starting the studio's "Reclaimer Saga" of mainline Halo games. The studio followed with Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5: Guardians, along with various spin-offs such as the Spartan Assault series and Halo Wars 2. 343 Industries is currently developing Halo Infinite as a launch title for Xbox Series X.

343 Industries
Division
IndustryVideo games
Founded2007 (2007)
FounderBonnie Ross
Headquarters
Redmond, Washington
,
US
Key people
Bonnie Ross (vice-president)
ProductsHalo series
Number of employees
450[1] (2016)
ParentXbox Game Studios
Website343industries.com

History

Formation

343 Industries was founded by Bonnie Ross in 2007,[1] after the former Halo studio, Bungie, separated from Microsoft.[2][3] It was named after Halo character 343 Guilty Spark.[2][4][5] Bungie continued making Halo games until Halo: Reach in 2010.[6]

Development

In July 2009, it was announced that 343 Industries was working on a seven-part Halo anime series called Halo Legends.[7] Later that year the studio created Halo Waypoint, a downloadable application that tracks a user's Halo accomplishments.[8] 343i also increased staff for Halo development, recruiting 20 staff from the now defunct Pandemic Studios.[9] 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 first franchise installment on November 15, 2001.

Following Bungie's departure from Microsoft in 2007, 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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 is currently 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, previously known under the code name Project Scarlett.[13] Infinite will be the first game to be developed using 343's in-house Slipspace Engine.[14]

Games developed
Year Game Platform(s) Notes
2011 Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary[15] Xbox 360 Collaboration with Saber Interactive, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was re-released on Xbox One
2012 Halo 4[16] Halo 4 was re-released on Xbox One on the Master Chief Collection
2013 Halo: Spartan Assault[17] iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, Xbox One Collaboration with Vanguard Games
2014 Halo: The Master Chief Collection[18] Microsoft Windows, Xbox One Includes Halo Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST and Halo 4
2015 Halo: Spartan Strike[19] iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone Collaboration with Vanguard Games
Halo 5: Guardians[20] Xbox One Halo 5: Forge was released on Microsoft Windows
Halo Online Microsoft Windows Cancelled
2016 Halo Wars: Definitive Edition Microsoft Windows, Xbox One Collaboration with Behaviour Interactive
2017 Halo Wars 2 Microsoft Windows, Xbox One 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
2020 Halo Infinite (in development)[21] Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X Joint development with SkyBox Labs[22]

References
  1. Smith, Edward (2016). "Studio Profile: 343 Industries". Edge. No. 300. Future Publishing. pp. 94–97.
  2. Milian, Mark (May 11, 2011). "Halo' and creators move on after divorce". CNN. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  3. Romano, Benjamin (October 6, 2007). "Microsoft, "Halo" maker Bungie split". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  4. Thorsen, Tor (July 20, 2009). "Microsoft names internal Halo label?". Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  5. Vore, Bryan (November 2011). "Taking Over 'Halo'". Game Informer. 11 (223): 28–33. ISSN 1067-6392.
  6. "Halo: Reach Will Be Bungie's Last Halo Game". IGN. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
  7. Norris, Erik (July 23, 2009). "Halo Anime In The Works". Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  8. McWhertor, Michael. "Comic-Con 09". kotaku.com. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  9. "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.
  10. Mallory, Jordan (March 29, 2013). "What went wrong with Halo 4's Prometheans". Engadget. AOL.
  11. "Reclaimer Saga". IGN. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  12. "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.
  13. "'Halo Infinite' arrives holiday 2020 alongside the new Xbox". Engadget. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  14. "Halo Infinite – Our Journey Begins". Halo Waypoint. June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  15. "Microsoft leaks details about next Halo game". VentureBeat. June 6, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  16. "Microsoft E3 landing page leaks Kinect upgrades, Halo 4 news". Digital Trends. June 6, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  17. "Halo: Spartan Assault Halo Official Site". Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  18. "Halo the Master Chief Collection". Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  19. "Halo: Spartan Strike Comes to Microsoft Windows Devices and Steam this December". Xbox Wire. Microsoft. October 16, 2014.
  20. "The Halo Journey". Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  21. "Halo 6 Already In the Works". CINEMABLEND. September 27, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  22. Makuch, Eddie (July 27, 2018). "Halo Infinite Adds A Co-Developer". GameSpot. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
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