343 Industries

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343 Industries
TypeDivision
IndustryVideo games
Founded2007; 15 years ago (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

343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. 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 after the departure of Bungie.

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 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 343i staff to work from home.[15] Infinite will be the first game to be developed using 343's in-house Slipspace Engine.[16]

Games developed[]

Year Game Platform(s) Notes
2011 Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary[17] 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[18] Halo 4 was re-released on Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S on the Master Chief Collection
2013 Halo: Spartan Assault[19] iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, Xbox One Collaboration with Vanguard Games
2014 Halo: The Master Chief Collection[20] 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[21] iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone Collaboration with Vanguard Games
Halo 5: Guardians[22] 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 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[23] Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Collaboration with SkyBox Labs, Sperasoft, The Coalition and Certain Affinity[24][25][26][27]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Smith, Edward (2016). "Studio Profile: 343 Industries". Edge. No. 300. Future Publishing. pp. 94–97.
  2. ^ "Why the makers of Halo are splitting from Microsoft". Fortune.
  3. ^ a b Milian, Mark (May 11, 2011). "Halo' and creators move on after divorce". CNN. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  4. ^ Romano, Benjamin (October 6, 2007). "Microsoft, "Halo" maker Bungie split". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  5. ^ Thorsen, Tor (July 20, 2009). "Microsoft names internal Halo label?". Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  6. ^ Vore, Bryan (November 2011). "Taking Over 'Halo'". Game Informer. 11 (223): 28–33. ISSN 1067-6392.
  7. ^ "Halo: Reach Will Be Bungie's Last Halo Game". IGN. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
  8. ^ Norris, Erik (July 23, 2009). "Halo Anime In The Works". Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  9. ^ McWhertor, Michael. "Comic-Con 09". kotaku.com. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ Mallory, Jordan (March 29, 2013). "What went wrong with Halo 4's Prometheans". Engadget. AOL.
  12. ^ "Reclaimer Saga". IGN. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ "'Halo Infinite' arrives holiday 2020 alongside the new Xbox". Engadget. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  15. ^ "Halo Infinite Development Update". Halo Waypoint. August 11, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  16. ^ "Halo Infinite – Our Journey Begins". Halo Waypoint. June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  17. ^ "Microsoft leaks details about next Halo game". VentureBeat. June 6, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  18. ^ "Microsoft E3 landing page leaks Kinect upgrades, Halo 4 news". Digital Trends. June 6, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  19. ^ "Halo: Spartan Assault Halo Official Site". Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  20. ^ "Halo the Master Chief Collection". Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  21. ^ "Halo: Spartan Strike Comes to Microsoft Windows Devices and Steam this December". Xbox Wire. Microsoft. October 16, 2014.
  22. ^ "The Halo Journey". Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  23. ^ "Halo 6 Already In the Works". CINEMABLEND. September 27, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  24. ^ Makuch, Eddie (July 27, 2018). "Halo Infinite Adds A Co-Developer". GameSpot. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  25. ^ "Sperasoft Collaborates with 343 Industries on Halo Infinite Development". Sperasoft. August 4, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  26. ^ "Halo Infinite Received Help From Gears Studio, The Coalition". Game Informer. February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  27. ^ "Certain Affinity Reveals Ongoing Partnership with 343 Industries on Halo Infinite". Certain Affinity. August 26, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.

External links[]

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