According to sources, a new Halo Multiplayer title was in development in conjunction with Halo Studios, but has ultimately been scrapped. This was first stated by a popular YouTuber known as Rebs Gaming, who reported that this multiplayer project set in the Halo Universe was cancelled, with Windows Central’s Jez Corden later stating that this news was “100% true.” According to this, the new title was codenamed ‘Ekur’ and was being worked on by Certain Affinity, a studio that has previously done support work on Halo and Call of Duty titles. The game appears to have originated in another project known as ‘Tatanka’, which was a battle royale-style Halo title.
Tatanka was reportedly scrapped in favor of Ekur, which has been described internally as a “super big team battle idea,” pulling from Halo’s large standing history with large-scale combat modes such as Big Team Battle. The Warzone mode in Halo 5 also served as an inspiration, with the team additionally toying around with concepts like extraction modes. The title would have used the map that was previously developed for Tatanka and would have been developed using Unreal Engine 5.
Halo Infinite, which has had its moments of keeping a decent player base, has been inconsistent in bringing in an audience. It is unclear if the goal of this was to offer a broader, more broadly appealing multiplayer experience or if this was set to be a premium title. Ultimately, though, it seems the core culprit in the title’s cancellation was the upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the original game rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 with some new features. This title apparently kept pulling developers away from the multiplayer game.
This news comes shortly after a round of devastating layoffs across Xbox, with the company going through what Asha Sharma called a “Major Reset.” Both Halo Studios and Certain Affinity were affected by these cuts, with the latter seeing 25 employees, or roughly 10% of their workforce, being affected. Halo Studios has recieved an undisclosed number of layoffs overall. We do know that Halo, among a few franchises like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, will have a renewed focus at Xbox, with Sharma stating internally that the plan is to accelerate development on new titles in these series. It is possible that Ekur could be revived in this effect, or the focus could shift to a mainline title.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is currently slated to release on July 28th. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.
Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Bluesky to keep up to date on everything we have going on!
