Halo Remake Wasn’t Forced To Use Generative AI

With the reveal of Halo: Campaign Evolved arriving next year for consoles and PC, developer Halo Studios has come forward to say that, while no one on the development team was required to use generative AI, they’re not opposed to using it as the “tool” that it is.

In an October 24 interview with Rolling Stone, executive producer Damon Conn and game director Greg Hermann spoke about the development of Halo: Campaign Evolved. When asked whether Halo Studios used AI in any capacity, whether that be retouching assets or rebuilding environments, Conn explained that AI can streamline workflows, but people create the games.

“I want to be very clear … People are creative. People make games. AI can improve workflows. It can do things for the game,” Conn said. “But I want to be very specific and clear that the people are the ones who are creating the game, and there’s an opportunity to improve a workflow, or something along those lines, we’ll look at it again. It really should be additive to the creation of a game.”

Hermann echoed Conn’s sentiment, explaining that, like other tools developers use when making games–such as Photoshop or Unity–AI is simply the same thing. It’s the brush that helps the artist paint. It can aid in the execution, but it’s people who hold the creative spark.

“It’s a tool in a toolbox,” Hermann said. “I may go a little off message here, but some of that gets very challenging when we look at how integrated AI is becoming within our tooling. We use Photoshop. There’s generative fill, for example. The boundary lines can get a little fuzzy. I will say, though, again, to Damon’s point, it really is about that creative spark that comes from people and improving just overall workflows.”

The question remains of whether Halo Studios was required to use generative AI when making the game. And for that, an Xbox representative told Rolling Stone that no such mandate exists.

“There is no mandate to use generative AI in our game development, and that includes Halo: Campaign Evolved,” the Xbox representative told the publication in a later statement.

This comes at an interesting time for Microsoft/Xbox and the games industry at large. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer recently admitted that the company doesn’t always do the best at protecting the creativity of its staff. Meanwhile, Microsoft reached a $4 trillion valuation despite the myriad layoffs, with a report suggesting that the company’s astronomical profit goals could be doing more harm to Microsoft than good. And some studios, from EA to Krafton Inc., are going all in artificial intelligence, with prominent developers saying the technology should be embraced or game developers are selling themselves short.

Still, it’s quite fascinating to see an Xbox exclusive make the jump to PlayStation. It really does seem like Microsoft is leaning into its latest marketing strategy, which purports that everything is an Xbox–even your car.

Halo: Campaign Evolved will launch sometime in 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.