343 Industries

Xbox Game Studios developer, known for the Halo seriesTemplate:SHORTDESC:Xbox Game Studios developer, known for the Halo series[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

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**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.

## History

### Formation

343 Industries was founded by Bonnie Ross in 2007, after the former *Halo* studio, Bungie, separated from Microsoft. It was 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 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 ahead of schedule the same year 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, 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, 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. *Infinite* will be the first game to be developed using 343's in-house Slipspace Engine.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:Cite magazine
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Milian, Mark (May 11, 2011). "Halo' and creators move on after divorce", CNN. Retrieved on January 5, 2013.
3. ↑ Romano, Benjamin (October 6, 2007). "Microsoft, "Halo" maker Bungie split". Retrieved on January 6, 2013.
4. ↑ Thorsen, Tor (July 20, 2009). "Microsoft names internal Halo label?". Retrieved on January 6, 2013.
5. ↑ Template:Cite journal
6. ↑ "Halo: Reach Will Be Bungie's Last Halo Game". IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2010/04/29/halo-reach-will-be-bungies-last-halo-game. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
7. ↑ Norris, Erik (July 23, 2009). "Halo Anime In The Works". Retrieved on January 5, 2013.
8. ↑ McWhertor, Michael. "Comic-Con 09". kotaku.com. http://kotaku.com/5322449/halo-waypoint-further-detailed-by-microsoft. 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20110708073222/http://gamer.blorge.com/2010/11/21/microsoft-hires-ex-pandemic-members-for-new-halo-game/. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
10. ↑ Mallory, Jordan (March 29, 2013). "What went wrong with Halo 4's Prometheans". *Engadget*. AOL. http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/what-went-wrong-with-halo-4s-prometheans/.
11. ↑ "Reclaimer Saga". *IGN*. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/21/halo-reclaimer-trilogy-expanded-to-saga. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
12. ↑ "Mega Brands and Microsoft Game Studios Renew Global Licensing Partnership" (June 2011). Retrieved on June 9, 2013.
13. ↑ "'Halo Infinite' arrives holiday 2020 alongside the new Xbox" (in en). https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/09/halo-infinite-arrives-holiday-2020-alongside-the-new-xbox/.
14. ↑ "Halo Infinite – Our Journey Begins" (in en-US), *Halo Waypoint* (June 10, 2018).
15. ↑ "Microsoft leaks details about next Halo game". VentureBeat. June 6, 2011. https://venturebeat.com/2011/06/06/microsoft-e3-halo-game/. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
16. ↑ "Microsoft E3 landing page leaks Kinect upgrades, Halo 4 news". Digital Trends. June 6, 2011. http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/microsoft-e3-landing-page-leaks-kinect-upgrades-halo-4-news/. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
17. ↑ "Halo: Spartan Assault Halo Official Site". http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-US/games/halospartanassault. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
18. ↑ "Halo the Master Chief Collection". http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/09/e3-2014-halo-the-master-chief-collection-halo-5-beta-announced-for-xbox-one. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
19. ↑ "Halo: Spartan Strike Comes to Microsoft Windows Devices and Steam this December". *Xbox Wire*. Microsoft. October 16, 2014. http://news.xbox.com/2014/10/games-halo-spartan-strike-announcement.
20. ↑ "The Halo Journey". http://news.xbox.com/2014/05/games-halo-journey-announcement. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
21. ↑ "Halo 6 Already In the Works", *CINEMABLEND* (September 27, 2015).
22. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (2018-07-27). "Halo Infinite Adds A Co-Developer" (in en-US). https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-infinite-adds-a-co-developer/1100-6460773/.

## External links

* Template:Official website

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