Halo's community backbone just snapped - And it might not recover

If you were around when Bungie launched Halo 3 back in 2007, you're no doubt familiar with the Forge mode that was introduced at the time, allowing players to modify their own maps. It wasn't until Halo: Reach that the mode really took off, and while there's plenty to criticise 343 Industries (now Halo Studios) for after inheriting the franchise when Bungie moved on to Destiny, Forge mode has been nothing short of brilliant in Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite—after falling short in Halo 4 and Halo 2: Anniversary.

After 343 Industries lost about half of its staff—including the entire leadership team—and Pierre Hintze took over to chart a new course forward, the studio was rebranded as Halo Studios. At the same time, they abandoned Bungie's old Slipspace engine in favour of Unreal Engine, and have largely moved on from Halo Infinite to focus on future titles.

As a result, Halo Infinite has been kept alive to a large extent by its community and fans—especially those who've created numerous impressive Forge maps. Halo Studios made it possible to play many of these creations in matchmaking. But that's now coming to an end, as the most well-known Forge team, The Forge Falcons, feel taken advantage of by Halo Studios and say they've received no compensation or thanks. They wrote the following on X:

"Our feelings regarding Halo & Forge. Seen some discussion on this recently, so, starting with the obvious, there's no reason forgers should still be getting no meaningful compensation.

"None of us ever started making things in the hopes we'd get compensated and have never expected it, and to our knowledge, not a single forger in the community has. But to see your work used in promotional material for a game, plastered all over in-game and featured in Matchmaking, to not receive even a simple sincere thank you or anything to make us feel appreciated beyond marketing events for the game, is just an odd feeling."

Halo Studios' relationship with its fans is, to put it mildly, frosty right now. Even Digsite—the team responsible for unearthing and restoring tons of old Bungie-era content for The Master Chief Collection that was never released—has had enough, feeling similarly exploited under the same conditions.

The Forge Falcons have promised to release one final Forge map later this year, but after that, they're done. They're moving on to Fortnite instead. Several other Forge creators have also said they're stepping away, marking a real blow for both Halo Studios and the fans. After all, it's been these very community members who have done the most to keep Halo Infinite alive while we all wait for the next big game—and now they're leaving it behind completely.