14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer 343 Industries is looking to hire a new software engineer who has significant experience in the MMO field, which is adding credibility to the rumors that the company is working on a Halo-based multiplayer online persistent game.
The official description is offered on the Microsoft careers website and it talks about a developer who is able to create a “large scale distributed systems with a focus on scalability, reliability, serviceability, maintainability, and stability.”
The announcement also adds, “The Halo Game Services team is working on building the next generation of backend services to power Halo 4 and our new game saga.”
343 Industries has been created by Microsoft specifically to handle all future products in the Halo franchise, after original developer Bungie chose to leave the series and create a game universe.
When Ensemble Studios was closed down and its assets liquidated, information emerged that the team had been working on a Halo-powered MMO since as early as 1998.
The game was called both Titan and Orion at various points during the development process, but in 2007, the decision was made to abandon it altogether.
Sources have said that Microsoft, the publisher in charge of the entire franchise, abandoned it because of quality concerns and because the technology was not advanced enough to support it.
A new Halo MMO might exist alongside the more single-player-focused series and will probably be intended as one of the flagship games for the next home console generation from Microsoft.
343 Industries has recently launched Halo 4, which quickly set new sales records for the franchise.
The game follows Master Chief as he explores a Forerunner planet and, while the single player has some depth and interesting narrative ideas, the multiplayer has been criticized for coming close to that of the Call of Duty series.