Author: Game Infliction

Halo is reportedly staying at 343 Industries, but the franchise’s direction is unclear amidst layoffs and a pivot away from Halo’s Slipspace engine.

In a report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the studio’s leadership overhaul, mass layoffs, and other big changes are causing 343 to essentially hit the reset button on the franchise. The report also claims that at least 95 people were laid off from 343 as a part of this month’s mass layoffs at Microsoft, and that 343 was not working on new missions for Halo Infinite’s story over the last year.

After the layoffs, rumors started circulating claiming that Microsoft could pass Halo development to another studio entirely. According to today’s report, Halo is staying put, despite concerns over the studio’s ability to develop new Halo games after the big hit to the staff.

The report lines up with 343’s statement that “Halo and Master Chief are here to stay”, and Phil Spencer saying that 343 remains “critically important” to the success of Halo. According to the report, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, has assured 343’s staff that they’re still in charge, even as the studio works with outside partners.

Big changes are in store for Halo

However, it would seem that big changes are still in store for the franchise. Namely, Halo is said to be pivoting to Unreal Engine, leaving the controversial Slipspace engine behind. Development challenges posed by Slipspace are reportedly holding back two Infinite multiplayer modes that are nearly finished: Extraction and Assault.

The reports of the engine swap come after years of rumors surrounding 343, Slipspace, and Unreal Engine. The pivot will reportedly begin with the Halo project codenamed Tatanka, which has been rumored for quite some time. This game is in co-development at 343 and Certain Affinity, and began as a Halo battle royale, but the game may now evolve in different directions. Future Halo games will also explore using Unreal Engine.

343 isn’t preparing any additional story content for Halo Infinite’s campaign, the report claims. Rather, developers have spent the last year working on Unreal Engine prototypes while pitching ideas for new Halo games. Many of the developers working on these projects were laid off this month, as 343 isn’t actively working on any new story content.

After strong initial reception for Infinite’s fresh campaign and free-to-play multiplayer, things took a turn for the worse. Fans pushed back against Infinite’s controversial multiplayer progression system, as lengthy delays to long-awaited features soured public opinion of the game. For now, Halo players are waiting for the launch of Season 3: Echoes Within this March.

For more on Xbox and Halo, check out IGN’s recent interview with Xbox’s Phil Spencer.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Avatar Generations launched today for iOS and Android, with developer Navigator Games and publisher Crystal Dynamics Eidos Entertainment celebrating with a new trailer. It is free-to-play with in-app purchases.

The trailer shows several characters from the series in battle and some brief glimpses of the user interface. It seems like characters will have a star rating to indicate their strength ranging all the way to 6 stars. Additionally, characters will have different skills to utilize during combat. Players can also level up Arts in order to make them more powerful.

The game is a turn-based RPG where players collect different characters from the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe to create a team and play through different iconic moments from the franchise. There will also be new scenarios too.

A variety of characters will be available to collect, including the main cast of Katara, Sokka, Zuko, and Toph, as well as supporting characters like Blue Spirit, Princess Yue, and Kyoshi Warrior Suki. Future updates for Avatar Generations will provide additional characters, companions, cosmetics, and customizable gear.

Avatar Generations is the latest game based on the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise since 2014’s Legend of Korra by developer PlatinumGames. In IGN’s The Legend of Korra: The Game review, we said, “What a disappointment. Even with a reputable developer behind it, The Legend of Korra game left us bent out of shape.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, the asymmetical multiplayer ghost-hunting game based on the popular films, has unveiled its first free DLC including a new map, ghost type, and other updates. And it’s all out today.

The new DLC includes The Facility, a new map set in an abandoned health center closed in the 1980s, but set to reopen…if its construction crews can get past the ghost problem. We’ll also see a new ghost type, the Glutton, a class that includes the Muncher ghost and two other variants. Developer Illfonic says the Muncher is the most-requested ghost type thus far – we were first introduced to the metal-eating ghost in in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Additionally, the DLC will bring new character customization options, improved matchmaking, and improve AI behavior both for teammates and ghosts.

Illfonic reiterated that it plans to continue releasing free DLC each quarter of this year for Spirits Unleashed, so we should expect more content along these lines at least three more times this year.

We enjoyed Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed at launch, finding it an entertaining asymmetical multiplayer game, but did lament that it was held back by some balance issues and map wonkiness at the time. We noted that it also badly needed more content, which this DLC and future ones hopefully will alleviate.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.