The death of 343 Industries and Halo Studios, whether you view it as the right call or not, has brought an enormous amount of drama with it. We aren't going to dive into that mess today. Instead, I want to highlight something that has been somewhat buried in the noise: a community-driven effort has ported the original Halo: Combat Evolved to a host of devices.

We are talking about your web browser, Android, Linux, and yes, even the PS4 and PS5. All of these ports support full multiplayer and campaign modes. For the PlayStation crowd, you will of course need a jailbroken device, which has become a relatively straightforward process.

Beyond the basic ports, we are seeing other Halo mods emerge, a new Halo 3 port on PC, and new modes for Halo: CE that support up to 128 players. Is this effectively making Halo x Battlefield a reality? Maybe.

Of course, these projects are largely driven by AI-powered tools, or at least most are anyway. With Claude recently releasing Opus 5.5, the barrier to entry for this kind of work has dropped significantly, so make of that what you will.

Regarding Halo, Combat Evolved was also recently decompiled, again thanks to AI, which is also likely why we're seeing a surge in mods for the game.

The scope is genuinely wild. We even have Halo: CE running on a Nintendo 3DS, and unrelated to Halo, there's even a project showcasing Minecraft inside Elden Ring. Yes, that exists, and it is pretty crazy to see.

Personally, I am somewhat indifferent about these things. I find it rather cool that the community is pushing the boundaries of what is possible, but I do worry about the long-term implications of AI being able to transform games to this extent. It raises some interesting questions about what it might mean for multiplayer titles in the future, especially if AI can start reverse engineering games.

With all that said, do let me know your thoughts in the comments. Whether you agree with where I sit on this matter or disagree, both opinions are welcome!

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I’m sure it needs no recap at this point, but Halo Studios is no more. Well, mostly no more, as the studio has reportedly been left with just 20 or so employees, while Activision has now taken on the mantle of responsibility for Halo.

Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, @Mr_Rebs_, a prominent leaker within the Halo community, has spoken out about what he alleges Halo Studios had planned for the franchise’s future. Despite my grievances with Halo Studios and its poor management of the franchise, one of these plans actually doesn’t sound too bad.

However, given the letdown of Campaign Evolved, I personally have very little faith that Halo Studios could have seen these ideas through. So, without further ado, let’s dive into it.

According to Rebs, Halo Studios was reportedly working on Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, as well as Halo 7. However, these projects were apparently still years away.

More interesting to me, though, is the fourth project: a standalone spin-off campaign based on Halo: First Strike, a genuinely great novel by Eric Nylund.

First Strike, for those unaware, fills in the gaps between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, which genuinely would have been great to see adapted into a game. Apparently, the project was targeting a release next year, although development was still in its early stages.

Given the state Campaign Evolved was in, I really doubt we would have seen it within that timeframe, especially considering the reported plans to include around five campaign missions alongside a Firefight mode.

The Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, though, were almost a given and something we’ve reported on before, with Halo 2 even being teased at the end of Campaign Evolved.

Halo 7 was actually in the conceptual stages, with a concept for the game apparently presented to Matt Booty and other Xbox executives shortly before the recent changes at Halo Studios. According to Rebs, the plan was for Halo 7 to launch with Campaign, PvP, PvE, and Forge from day one.

Of the remaining staff at Halo Studios, Pierre Hintze (Studio Head) does remain, a figure of controversy within the community and according to Rebs, Pierre still has a plan, Rebs states:

If this is the case, I do hope Pierre is unsuccessful in these endeavors; the last thing Halo needs right now is AI slop.

As for the future, there are still a lot of unknowns, and I imagine it will be that way for a while; however, one rumor floating around suggests a reboot of sorts might be on the cards now that the IP is under Activision.

I’m personally happy with the changes being made to Halo. While I do have my reservations regarding Activision, there’s no doubt it has the infrastructure to support an IP as big as Halo.

And while my long-dreamed-of wish to see Halo’s books adapted into games is probably dead for the foreseeable future, I’d still much prefer a future where Halo Studios is no longer making Halo. Because yes, things really were that bad.

If you feel differently about everything, do let me know in the comments. I’ll be sure to respond, and as always, don’t forget to take part in our poll!

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