Halo’s long-rumoured multiplayer mission, generally often known as Venture Ekur, has reportedly been cancelled, bringing an finish to one of many strangest ongoing mysteries surrounding the way forward for the franchise.
The report comes from Rebs Gaming, who has spent the previous few years investigating the mission and its connection to Tatanka, the long-rumoured Halo battle royale mission that was reportedly being labored on by Sure Affinity. In keeping with Rebs, a number of Halo Studios workers have now instructed him that Venture Ekur is now not in growth.
As all the time with Halo rumours, it’s price stressing the apparent: Microsoft and Halo Studios by no means formally introduced Venture Ekur, which suggests there may be technically no official cancellation both. It is a cancellation report for a sport that was by no means publicly revealed, as a result of apparently Halo growth lore now requires its personal forensic division.
Nonetheless, there was sufficient smoke round this factor for years that it’s price going by what Venture Ekur was supposedly meant to be, and the way it apparently advanced from one factor into one other earlier than being shelved.
The story actually begins with Tatanka. Again in January 2022, Home windows Central reported that Sure Affinity was engaged on a brand new Halo Infinite mode codenamed Tatanka, described on the time as one thing designed to enchantment to gamers who may not normally leap into conventional Halo Enviornment or Large Workforce Battle. Sure Affinity later confirmed in April 2022 that it was “deepening” its relationship with 343 Industries and had been entrusted with evolving Halo Infinite in “new and thrilling methods,” though it didn’t publicly identify Tatanka.
Over time, Tatanka was understood to Halo’s battle royale mission, or no less than one thing battle royale-adjacent. Stories and leaks prompt drop pods, large-scale maps, squads and a extra accessible multiplayer construction. However like many issues hooked up to Halo Infinite’s post-launch period, the mission’s route seems to have modified repeatedly.
By early 2024, experiences claimed Tatanka had been cancelled. Recreation Developer described it as an “open secret” Halo battle royale mission from Sure Affinity and 343 Industries that was now reportedly lifeless, whereas different reporting prompt the thought had not merely vanished however could have advanced into one thing else. That one thing else seems to have been Venture Ekur.
In keeping with Rebs’ more moderen reporting, Ekur started after the cancellation of the Tatanka battle royale idea, when Halo Studios began wanting severely at the best way to transfer the franchise to Unreal Engine. That official transfer was ultimately introduced in October 2024, when 343 Industries rebranded as Halo Studios and confirmed that future Halo tasks would use Unreal Engine 5, with a number of new video games in growth.
That’s the place Ekur turns into particularly attention-grabbing. Primarily based on Rebs’ supply, Sure Affinity was given the go-ahead to prototype Ekur as a manner of answering two essential technical questions: might Halo property from Slipspace and Blam be imported into Unreal Engine 5, and will Unreal be made to really really feel like Halo?
Rebs claims each targets had been achieved by June 2023, with Halo Infinite’s play house and Tatanka’s map imported into Ekur for Stay Fireplace gameplay assessments that includes AI. His supply additionally believed September 2023 was the deadline for a full prototype and a call on whether or not Ekur could be greenlit as a full mission.
That makes Ekur sound much less like a easy “new Halo mode” and extra like a bridge between outdated Halo and new Halo. If the report is correct, the mission was partly a technical experiment designed to check whether or not Halo might survive the leap away from its personal know-how and into Unreal Engine 5 with out shedding the texture of Halo itself.
Gameplay-wise, Ekur additionally seems to have modified form. In an earlier report, Rebs described it as an extraction shooter mission being developed by Sure Affinity. Nevertheless, in a follow-up video, he clarified that this description was outdated. In keeping with his newer supply, Ekur had explored extraction-shooter concepts, however ultimately moved nearer to what seems like a “Tremendous Large Workforce Battle” idea.
The alleged pitch concerned gamers, teammates and a squad of pleasant AI exploring a big map, gathering sources and battling different groups. Rebs’ supply in contrast the mission’s conceptual basis extra to Halo 5’s Warzone mode than a standard extraction shooter, although some extraction parts have been apparently nonetheless current.
That element issues as a result of it modifications all the flavour of the mission. “Halo extraction shooter” seems like Microsoft chasing no matter style is presently trendy. “Giant-scale Halo multiplayer with AI squads, sources, Spartans, Elites and Warzone DNA” sounds much more like one thing rooted in Halo’s personal historical past.
One of many extra eye-catching particulars from Rebs’ report is that Sure Affinity was allegedly pitching playable Spartans and Elites, full with face, physique and armour customization. The armour system was reportedly much like Halo 4’s customization. If true, that alone would have made Ekur notable, since playable Elites have been a kind of options Halo followers have been asking to see correctly return for years.
There was additionally some confusion over who was truly growing Ekur. Rebs initially mentioned Sure Affinity was growing it, however later prompt the studio could have solely prototyped the mission for Halo Studios. One other supply cited by Rebs, Technical Halo, claimed that Sure Affinity was not growing the subsequent Halo multiplayer sport, whereas a dataminer often known as Grunt API had reportedly found a check server linked to Ekur. Rebs mentioned that server was known as a Thunderhead server and was proof that Ekur nonetheless existed on the time.
In different phrases, the mission’s path appears to go one thing like this: Tatanka started as a Sure Affinity-led Halo Infinite multiplayer experiment, apparently with battle royale parts. That model was cancelled or deserted. Ekur then emerged as a brand new Unreal Engine prototype, doubtlessly utilizing items of Tatanka as a basis. It explored extraction-shooter concepts earlier than reportedly drifting towards one thing nearer to Halo 5 Warzone or a a lot bigger Large Workforce Battle-style expertise. Sure Affinity could have prototyped it, whereas Halo Studios could later have taken over or folded it into its personal inside plans.
And now, in keeping with Rebs, it’s lifeless.
In his newest video, Rebs says a number of Halo Studios workers instructed him Venture Ekur is now not in growth. He says he doesn’t know precisely when it was cancelled or the precise cause why, however he claims some builders from the Ekur group have been moved onto Halo: Marketing campaign Developed final summer time as a result of that mission was allegedly going through main growth issues. Rebs is cautious to not say this instantly brought on Ekur’s cancellation, solely that it might clarify a part of what occurred.
That is a vital distinction. The protected learn is just not “Marketing campaign Developed killed Ekur.” The safer learn is that Ekur could have misplaced employees whereas Halo Studios centered sources elsewhere, and was cancelled someday after.
If correct, it leaves Halo’s multiplayer future in an odd place. Halo Studios has confirmed that a number of Unreal Engine 5 Halo tasks are in growth, but it surely has not correctly defined what the subsequent main Halo multiplayer expertise might be. Rebs speculates that as a result of Halo Studios has mentioned followers can anticipate an replace on the return of the Halo Championship Collection, some type of traditional multiplayer expertise should nonetheless be deliberate. However even he admits that’s solely a guess.
For now, Venture Ekur seems like one other fascinating Halo mission gamers could by no means truly get to see. What reportedly began as a approach to check Halo inside Unreal Engine 5 turned a large-scale multiplayer experiment with AI squads, useful resource gathering, playable Elites and Halo 5 Warzone affect, solely to apparently be cancelled earlier than it was ever formally revealed.
Recentely, it has been reported {that a} huge cause for Xbox’s upcoming culling of its studios is to refocus sources into its greatest groups and franchises, with Halo being one among them.
