The development of future Halo games will allegedly heavily rely on outsourcing, as was the case with Halo: Campaign Evolved.
In his latest video, Halo insider and content creator Rebs Gaming claimed that Halo Studios has been outsourcing more development than ever before, with Halo: Campaign Evolved being a prime example. He pointed out that the game’s credits list 15 external studios involved in its production. According to him, these companies contributed across virtually every area of development, with some handling major portions from beginning to end. For example, Virtuos reportedly delivered art covering world creation, characters, vehicles and weapons, while Abstraction worked on campaign missions from concept and blockout through polishing, scripted events and gameplay balancing.
The content creator also highlighted the canceled Project Eker, which he claimed was intended to be Halo’s next multiplayer game. Citing a source, he said that the game’s development was being outsourced “more than previous Halo games.” Rebs then brought up recent reports that Microsoft is exploring having Activision assist with future Halo projects, potentially including Sledgehammer Games working on a multiplayer title. According to him, a prototype was indeed tested by Activision in June, although the pitch was cancelled in early July. He claimed that Microsoft has not yet greenlit such a project.
“The majority of development for all future Halo projects will be outsourced,” said Rebs, arguing that while outsourcing may help speed up development and enable more content, Halo Studios will need to improve its management of external partners.
In his prior report on problems faced during the development of Halo: Campaign Evolved, he mentioned that Abstraction struggled with an “aggressive timeline and shifting client expectations,” before its contract with Halo Studios was terminated midway through production. According to one of his sources, the studio “disappeared one day,” forcing much of its work to be redone.
