An insider in the gaming industry has hinted that Xbox may reveal a new Halo title this year. The sentiment around the beloved Halo franchise has been somewhat unstable since Halo Infinite debuted in 2021. Initially, 343 Industries struggled to provide consistent updates for its Halo Infinite players. Thankfully, their recent efforts have been more promising, but fans are still eager to know what’s next for the series.
This October brought significant changes for Xbox’s Halo team, now known as Halo Studios. The studio has officially rebranded to emphasize its commitment to the Halo franchise, which has always been its primary focus. Along with the name change, Halo Studios announced a shift from the Slipspace Engine, originally developed for Halo Infinite, to Epic’s Unreal Engine 5 for all upcoming Halo projects.
It looks like Halo Studios is really hitting its stride after the recent engine change. Industry insider Rebs Gaming shared a YouTube video discussing a new LinkedIn post from Xbox that highlights Halo Studios’ enhanced playtesting capabilities. In the post, Playtest Manager Susan Bunch mentions, “When the Project Foundry Team was exploring Unreal, we organized a playtest session for our artists and designers to experience similar maps currently in production.” This reference to maps in active development has sparked Rebs Gaming’s speculation that a new Halo announcement might be on the horizon.
New Halo Game Reveal Could Happen in 2025, According to Insider
It’s widely recognized that the development of Halo Infinite’s Slipspace engine took quite a while, which likely contributed to the significant gap between the release of Halo 5: Guardians in 2015 and Halo Infinite in 2021. By utilizing Unreal Engine 5, Halo Studios might be able to release new Halo titles more regularly and streamline the process of adding fresh content to their multiplayer offerings. Additionally, there are persistent rumors about a potential remake of Halo: Combat Evolved that could still be in the works. If the next Halo game is indeed progressing quickly after the switch to Unreal, and a reveal in 2025 is accurate, it might be a smaller spin-off, with Halo Studios possibly planning something much larger for the future.
If we see a new Halo game revealed this year, it could mean a release date set for 2026, 2027, or later, depending on the game’s scale. As for when this reveal might happen, the upcoming Xbox Developer Direct next week doesn’t seem likely, given that three of the four games have already been confirmed, and the fourth is speculated to be a Japanese title. A more fitting opportunity for the Halo announcement would be during Xbox’s Summer Game Fest in June, but keep in mind that the 2025 reveal is still just a rumor.