Halo’s Next Multiplayer Codenamed Ekur Shifts Back from an Extraction Shooter to a Warzone-style Big Team Battle, Sources Claim

RUMOR ASSESSMENT

80%

Probable

Source 4/5

Corroboration 4/5

Technical 4/5

Timeline 4/5

YouTuber Rebs Gaming has provided an update on the long-rumored Halo multiplayer project codenamed Ekur. As you'll probably remember, the creator's earlier reporting from a couple of months ago had described Ekur as an extraction shooter being developed by Certain Affinity. Rebs Gaming's new video is a correction/update to that claim, based on new information from two sources.

The first source works at a company providing QA services to Halo Studios and speaks with current employees there. According to them:

• Ekur originated after the earlier cancellation of the Battle Royale project codenamed Tatanka.
• Following that cancellation, Halo Studios began transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, and Certain Affinity was tasked with prototyping Ekur to explore that transition.
• The project had two core technical goals: determining whether Halo Infinite's Slipspace and Blam assets could be imported into Unreal Engine 5, and evaluating whether Unreal Engine could be made to feel like Halo.
• Both goals were reportedly achieved by June 2023, when Halo Infinite's Slipspace engine assets and Tatanka's map were imported into Ekur and tested via live-fire gameplay sessions involving AI combatants.
• The source believes September 2023 was the internal deadline for a full prototype and a greenlight decision on the project.
• During this period, an extraction shooter concept was explored (consistent with the previous report), but the direction reportedly shifted toward a large-scale team-based battle concept, in which players and their squad of AI teammates explore a map, gather resources, and fight other player teams. Some extraction-style elements remain, but the closer conceptual touchstone cited is Halo 5's Warzone mode rather than a traditional extraction shooter, and Rebs Gaming describes it as a Super Big Team Battle mode.
• Certain Affinity was also reportedly pitching playable Spartans and Elites with deep character customization (face, body, and armor sets), compared to Halo 4's customization style.

The second source is a separate, longtime contact of the YouTuber who stated that Certain Affinity is not the studio currently developing the next Halo multiplayer project. However, Ekur's existence is corroborated independently, as data miner Grunt.API previously discovered a test server used by Halo Studios for the project, specifically a type of internal test server called a Thunderhead server, which was confirmed to be tied to Ekur.

Putting the two sources together, the working theory is that Certain Affinity prototyped Ekur on Halo Studios' behalf, but development has since moved in-house at Halo Studios. This is considered plausible given that Halo Studios (then still known as 343 Industries) underwent major layoffs around the same period and was receiving external studio assistance with the Unreal Engine transition in 2023, when Ekur's development began.

Rebs Gaming believes Ekur is very likely the codename for Halo's next multiplayer project, but he's admittedly uncertain whether the final product will be a traditional Halo multiplayer experience, an entirely new experience built from the prototype's big-team-battle concept, or some hybrid of the two. It could also be either a standalone multiplayer release or bundled within the next mainline Halo installment. Of course, we'll have to simply wait until the developer is ready to share that publicly.

For now, Halo Studios is focused on polishing up Halo: Campaign Evolved ahead of the July 28, 2026 release date.

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