It is reported that future Halo games will rely heavily on outsourcing, a model already adopted during the development of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
In his latest video, Rebs Gaming, an industry insider and content creator specializing in the Halo series, stated that 343 Industries has reached a new high in outsourcing scale, with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary serving as a prime example. He pointed out that the game's credits list 15 external studios involved in its production. According to him, these studios covered nearly every aspect of the development pipeline, with some teams responsible for core components from start to finish. For instance, Virtuos handled art assets for world-building, characters, vehicles, and weapons, while Abstraction Games was responsible for the end-to-end development of campaign levels, including concept design, blockout, detail refinement, scripting events, and gameplay balancing.
The creator also mentioned the canceled "Project Ekko," which was originally intended to be the next multiplayer Halo title. Citing sources, he stated that this game had an outsourcing scale "exceeding all previous Halo titles." Rebs then noted recent reports that Microsoft is considering involving Activision in future Halo projects, potentially including a multiplayer game developed by Sledgehammer Games. According to him, Activision did test a prototype in June of this year, but the proposal was rejected in early July, and Microsoft has not yet officially approved any related projects.
Rebs stated, "The majority of development for all future Halo projects will be outsourced." He believes that while outsourcing can accelerate development and deliver more content, 343 Industries urgently needs to improve its management of external partners. He referenced the chaotic development of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which he had previously reported on: Abstraction Games struggled due to "tight schedules and constantly changing requirements from the client," leading 343 Industries to terminate its collaboration with the studio midway through development. According to one of his sources, the team at the studio was "replaced overnight," forcing them to discard a significant amount of their work and start over.