Halo: Call of Duty studio working on a secret and “unexpected” project; Xbox fans believe it could be a new Master Chief adventure

Xbox recently confirmed that it is working on several new Halo projects. This comes after 343 Industries rebranded itself as Halo Studios. We know that the iconic franchise will now use Unreal Engine 5, Epic Games' development engine. However, the details of the upcoming games are still a mystery.

Master Chief fans are excited for this new chapter in the franchise, and a recent hint has heightened their anticipation even more. A talented Call of Duty studio recently revealed it’s working on a secret project using Unreal Engine 5.

As a result, players believe the company may be stepping away from Call of Duty to work on a Halo project. Some skeptical fans think the studio might not be developing the game directly but could be assisting Halo Studios with at least one of its new titles.

Is a Call of Duty Studio Working on Halo?

Andrew Wilson, Chief Operating Officer of Sledgehammer Games, recently posted a message on LinkedIn that caught the attention of Xbox players. In it, he revealed they are looking for personnel for a new project described as “unexpected”.

Specifically, the Call of Duty studio is looking to hire eight developers with experience using Unreal Engine 5. This led Xbox players to believe that Sledgehammer Games might be working on something related to Halo.

Sledgehammer Games has supported the creation of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and was responsible for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Currently, their development projects are unknown, but mentioning an unexpected title made with Unreal Engine 5 has fueled the imaginations of some Master Chief fans.

Many supported this theory after noticing that Wilson deleted his post shortly after sharing it. Ben Wanat, Senior Creative Director at Sledgehammer Games, shared a similar post, hinting that the project will be smaller in scale.

“I’m looking for friendly, hands-on collaborators with deep knowledge of Unreal 5 who thrive in an indie-style development environment,” the creative stated.

In reality, this is all just speculation, as Sledgehammer Games hasn’t revealed any concrete details about the project, which could just as likely be related to Call of Duty or another Xbox franchise, as fans are hoping.