343 Industries

343 Industries (abbreviated to 343i) is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington. Named after the Halo character 343 Guilty Spark, the company was established in 2009 by Microsoft Studios to oversee the development of the Halo science fiction media franchise following a split between Microsoft and Bungie in 2007. Halo 4 was the first title released by 343 Industries in which they played a lead development role. Upcoming releases from the company include Halo Wars 2 in 2016.

History

Formation

In July 2009, Microsoft filed for the name 343 Industries for its new Halo development studio, after the former Halo studio, Bungie, separated from Microsoft. It was named after Halo character 343 Guilty Spark. Bungie continued making Halo games until Halo: Reach in 2010.

Development

In July 2009, it was announced that 343 Industries was working on a seven-part Halo anime series called Halo Legends. Later that year the studio created Halo Waypoint, a downloadable application that tracks a user's Halo accomplishments. 343i also increased staff for Halo development, recruiting 20 staff from the now defunct Pandemic Studios. 343i also developed Halo: Reach's second and third map packs, entitled "Defiant" and "Anniversary" respectively, in conjunction with Certain Affinity. The company was responsible for the HD remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, titled Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which was released on November 15, 2011, to celebrate the 10th year since the release of first franchise installment on November 15, 2001.