343 Industries has taken to Twitter to squash rumors alleging that it would take a backseat role in the development of the Halo franchise.
A couple of days ago, a rumor started circulating alleging that the studio would be removed from actively developing the Halo franchise and would instead coordinate the efforts made by other teams. The rumor was bounced around by several media outlets which contributed to portraying it as credible. Turns out, it wasn't.
Now 343 has stepped in to clear the air with the following message:
"Halo and Master Chief are here to stay.
343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great."
The brief message is signed by studio head Pierre Hintze.
In case you're wondering, TechRaptor declined to report the initial rumor, as it did not match our standards for reliability.
343 Indstries was formed by Microsoft in 2007 following the departure of Bungie from the house of Xbox in order to oversee the Halo franchise and develop its mainline games. It has since developed several games including Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and the latest, Halo Infinite, on top of the Master Chief Collection.
Last year, former studio head Bonnie Ross quit after 15 years at the helm, while a few days ago, the studio has reportedly been hit by layoffs during a sweeping round of redundancies that resulted in the termination of approximately 10,000 positions at Microsoft.
At the moment, we don't yet have any information on what we can expect from the Halo franchise in term of new games, but considering that Halo Infinite has been released only a little more than a year ago, it's likely that it'll be some more time before Microsoft is ready to open the floodgates and share details on its plans for the future of the series.
