343 Industries is an American

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

located in

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 census, up from 54,144 in 2010. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an ann ...

, part of

Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'' series of

military science fiction Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that features the use of science fiction technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization involved in military a ...

games, originally created and produced by

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones afte ...

, 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 Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...

for '' Halo: Reach'', Bungie's final ''Halo'' game, 343 Industries released '' Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' and ''

Halo 4 ''Halo 4'' is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. ''Halo 4''s story follows a cybernetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, a ...

'', the latter starting the studio's " Reclaimer Saga" of the mainline games.

History

Formation

Developer

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 ''Halo 3'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the ''Halo'' franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in 2001's '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' and continued in ...

'', Bungie announced its split from Microsoft. The rights to ''Halo'' remained with the latter. To oversee the ''Halo'' franchise, Microsoft created 343 Industries that same year, named after ''Halo'' character 343 Guilty Spark. Bungie continued making ''Halo'' games until '' Halo: Reach'' in 2010.

Development

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

'', which began in 2009, was completed in September. 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. 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 Mega Brands Inc. (formerly Mega Bloks Inc. and Ritvik Holdings) is a Canadian children's toy company currently owned by Mattel. Mega Bloks, a line of construction set toys, is its most popular product. Its other brands include Mega Construx, Meg ...

, is in conjunction with 343i to manufacture a new line of toys and other memorabilia for the upcoming ''Halo'' saga. '' 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 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 (E3 2018) was the 24th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...

, Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries announced the next ''Halo'' game, titled ''

Halo Infinite ''Halo Infinite'' is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by 343 Industries and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the sixth mainline entry in the ''Halo'' series, following '' Halo 5: Guardians'' (2015). The campaign follows the h ...

'', 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 The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, ...

. However, the game was delayed to release in 2021, in part due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

forcing the 343i staff to switch to

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

. ''Infinite'' was the first game to be developed using 343's in-house Slipspace Engine. After ''Infinite''s release, 343 Industries supported the game via updates. On September 12, 2022, Bonnie Ross announced that she steps down as studio head. Following her departure, her responsibilities were split into three positions. Pierre Hintze is taking over as studio head, Bryan Koski will become GM of the franchise and Elizabeth Van Wyck will take over business and operations.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Xbox Game Studios 2007 establishments in Washington (state) American companies established in 2007 Companies based in Redmond, Washington First-party video game developers Microsoft subsidiaries Video game companies established in 2007 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Xbox Game Studios