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343 Industries, commonly shortened to 343i or 343, is a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios located in Kirkland, Washington. It is tasked with overseeing the Halo franchise and creating new properties for the series. The team's name is a reference to 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of Installation 04.
Background
Origin
Before the formation of 343 Industries in 2007, the Microsoft Game Studios Franchise Development Group (MGSFDG) was responsible for expanding Microsoft's video game franchises. A prominent example of their contribution in the Halo franchise would be book publication arrangement with book publishers, Ballantine Books and Tor Books.[1][2]
Establishment in 2007
Following the end of partnership between Bungie and Microsoft 2007, Microsoft sought to form an internal studio from its internal development group to oversee the future developments of the Halo franchise.[3] 343 Industries was established, with a number of Bungie employees having transferred to the internal studio, namely Frank O'Connor and Chad Armstrong (still keeping the number of ex-Bungie employees under five). To expand the internal team, 343 Industries hired several of its employees from the Halo community, including Jeremy Patenaude and Jacob Benton of Ascendant Justice and Jessica Shea of Hawty McBloggy.
343's first project was Halo Waypoint, a downloadable Xbox LIVE application developed in conjunction with Certain Affinity and released in 2009. Its content is also available on the official Halo website at Xbox.com. Certain Affinity also created the maps in the Defiant Map Pack, the first map pack to be released by 343.
343 Industries' first game release, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, was developed in conjunction with Saber Interactive and released in 2011. Their next major project is Halo 4, the first game in a new trilogy.
In 2010, 343 released the first episode of their official podcast, entitled 343 Sparkast. After Bungie announced they would discontinue Halo-related Bungie Weekly Updates in July 7, 2011, 343 Industries started publishing the Halo Bulletin, a weekly writeup of Halo news.[4]
Approach to fiction
Even though earlier Halo expanded universe fiction has shared the same continuity as the games, material from outside the games was generally regarded as ancillary and was rarely intertwined with the games in a significant way. In addition, an effort was made to keep different pieces of media as their own, self-contained "bubbles," so that they would not have a significant impact on other stories. For example, Frank O'Connor stated that the story of Halo Wars effectively exists in a bubble, having little bearing on the Halo story at large. According to O'Connor, this approach was "safer" from a development perspective, but it made many pieces of fiction seem extraneous or "disposable," as they had no crucial impact on one another.[5]
Circa 2008, however, 343 Industries adopted a new approach, deciding that all future media they released would be fictionally interconnected. This includes further integrating the fiction of the games and the novels into a seamless whole, with different pieces of media complementing one another in a meaningful way. Even though the main game series is still the primary focus of the studio, all other fiction has been stated to have a resonant impact on the games' stories in a way unlike before. For example, the novels of the Kilo-Five Trilogy and The Forerunner Saga have direct connections to the story of Halo 4 and the subsequent games.[5]
Projects
Upcoming and ongoing
- Halo Waypoint - An in-house production for Xbox LIVE.
- Kilo-Five Trilogy - A post-war novel series written by Karen Traviss.
- Reclaimer Trilogy - An upcoming trilogy of Halo games.
- Halo 4 - The first game in the trilogy and a sequel to Halo 3.
- Halo: Spartan Assault - A top down stick shooter for Windows 8 and Windows 8 phone.
Released
- Halo Wars - A RTS game made in conjunction with Robot Entertainment.
- Halo: Helljumper - A comic book series written by Peter David and drawn by Eric Nguyen.
- Halo Encyclopedia - Edited by Tobias Buckell and published by DK Books.
- Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe - A collection of short stories written by Eric Nylund, Tobias Buckell, Karen Traviss, and other critically acclaimed authors.
- Halo: Blood Line - A comic book series written by Fred Van Lente and drawn by Francis Portela.
- Halo Legends - A collection of anime shorts created in partnership with numerous Japanese studios.
- Revised versions of Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, and Halo: First Strike.
- Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - A remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, featuring several multiplayer maps for the Halo: Reach engine.
- The Forerunner Saga - A series of novels written by Greg Bear.
- Halo: Fall of Reach - A comic book adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Brian Reed with art by Felix Ruiz.
- Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - A live-action prequel miniseries.
Known employees
- Bonnie Ross – General Manager [6]
- Frank O'Connor - Franchise Development Director, formerly an employee of Bungie [7]
- Kevin Grace - Managing Editor [8]
- Jonathan Goff - Community Manager [6]
- Dan Ayoub - Executive Producer [9]
- Jeremy Patenaude – Content Creator (Formerly of AscendantJustice.com) [6]
- Jacob Benton – Content Creator (Formerly of AscendantJustice.com)[6]
- Corrinne Yu - Principle Engine Programmer [10]
- Chad Armstrong - Designer, formerly an employee of Bungie [11]
- Gabriel Garza - Artist [12]
- Nicolas Bouvier - Artist [12]
- Jessica Shea - Community Manager (Formerly of Hawty McBloggy)
- David Ellis (formerly of 1up.com) - Content Producer [13]
- Jason Pace - Creative Director for Halo Waypoint [14]
- Sotaro Tojima - Audio Director[15]
- Armando Troisi - Narrative Designer[16]
- Vic DeLeon - Lead Mission Artist, formerly of Bungie [17]
- Kenneth Scott - Senior Art Director [10]
- Josh Holmes – Creative Director [16]
- Daniel Price - Senior Service Engineer [18]
- Che Chou - Studio Producer [19]
- David Wu - Chief Technology Officer [20]
- Sally Huang - Producer [21]
- Chris Buckley - Graphic Designer
- Kiki Wolfkill - Executive Producer [22]
- Neill Harrison - Art Manager [22]
- Brad Welch - Lead Designer [22]
- Joe Waters - Senior Software Developer[23]
- Tom French - Missions Designer[23]
- Maggie Oh - Senior Technical Artist[23]
- Kynan Pearson - Lead Multiplayer Level Designer[23]
- Nicholas 'Sparth' Bouvier - Lead Concept Artist[23]
- RJ Ranola - Environment Artist[23]
- Patrick Gillette - Gameplay Animator[23]
- Vic DeLeon - Lead Mission Artist[23]
- Kathy Gehrig - Associate Producer[23]
- Armando Troisi - Narrative Director[23]
- Lani Blazier - Franchise Creative Producer[23]
- Nicole Makila - Producer[23]
- Hoop Somuah - Senior SDE[23]
- CJ Markham - Motion Capture Supervisor[23]
- Kazuma Jinnouchi - Music Supervisor/Composer[24]
Former
Sources
- ^ Halo: Combat Evolved portal page: MGS Development Group Expands (archived page)
- ^ halo.bungie.org: Interview with Eric Nylund
- ^ IGN: Halo: Reach Will Be Bungie's Last Halo Game
- ^ Halo Waypoint: The Halo Bulletin 6/15/11
- ^ a b Game Informer: The Future Of Halo Wars And Halo's Expanded Universe
- ^ a b c d Major Nelson: #343: Interviews with members of 343 Industries about Halo and more
- ^ Frank O'Connor's Business Card
- ^ - Halo: Evolutions at Tobias Buckell Online
- ^ Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Exclusive
- ^ a b Kotaku - It's Official MGS4 Producer Now Working on Halo
- ^ NeoGaf: View Single Post - Halo: Reach |OT3| This Thread is Not a Natural Formation
- ^ a b Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, About the artists
- ^ 343 Industries Podcast #1
- ^ Welcome to Halo Waypoint
- ^ 343 Industries Twitter Account
- ^ a b c GameInformer: UPDATE: Halo 4 Loses Its Creative Director
- ^ LinkedIn: Vic DeLeon
- ^ LinkedIn: Daniel Price
- ^ LinkedIn: Che Chou
- ^ LinkedIn: David Wu
- ^ LinkedIn: Sally Huang
- ^ a b c Making Halo 4: First Look
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n YouTube: Working at 343 Industries (HD)
- ^ Making Halo 4: Composing Worlds
- ^ Twitter.com - SixOkay
- ^ Twitter: Ryan Payton