In late 2024, Microsoft announced it had rebranded 343 Industries, the current developers of the Halo series to Halo Studios. When that was revealed they teased what the future of Halo will look like in Unreal Engine 5. The studio at the time also confirmed they have multiple new games in development that are using the engine, but didn’t specify the projects.
It was first spotted by Gameranx that industry insider Rebs Gaming who has a lot of information on the Halo franchise that a new game could be announced this year. Rebs brought up that Halo Studios is playtesting future Halo games on a weekly basis and if they are this far in development he expects at least one new game announcement in 2025.
What prompted this was a post on LinkedIn from the official Xbox account talking about its playtest lab at their Redmond-based studio. The post was promoting job opportunities at Halo Studios.
Last year there were multiple reports that a Halo: Combat Evolved remake was in development with it also releasing on PlayStation 5. Other rumors also claim Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be making its way to PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 which would also prompt playtesting at the studio.
Microsoft has not confirmed any of these rumors. However, there is an Xbox Developer_Direct planned for January 23 with a surprise game. News regarding the Halo franchise is not expected to happen.