70%
Probable
We've been hearing rumors of Halo Studios looking to add a battle royale mode to the Halo franchise, either as a new individual title or as a game mode in a larger game, for years now. Whether it was actually the case or not, to players, the idea of a Halo battle royale always seemed like Xbox trying to chase one of the most popular genre trends in the video game industry. That seems to be the same thing driving the latest rumor about what's coming next from Halo Studios, which claims that the battle royale mode has pivoted to chase the latest trend, extraction shooters.
Yes, it's not just Haven Studios' upcoming multiplayer game Fairgames that is said to be shifting to an extraction shooter. This new rumor comes from Rebs Gaming, who has previously proven to be a reliable source of information regarding the Halo franchise, but it's still just a rumour, so keep that in mind and take the full report with the appropriate grain of salt.
For anyone who has been following the different movements of the rumoured battle royale project, you'll know that Halo Studios was said to be working on the project with Certain Affinity, and that the most recent codename for the project was Project Ekur.
You'd also know that the battle royale idea was allegedly canned in 2024, and that it needed a new direction, which is why it makes sense to hear Rebs Gaming claims they have "received direct confirmation that it [Project Ekur] was being developed as an extraction shooter at least until the end of summer 2023." Rebs Gaming also goes on to claim that sources they've spoken to claimed that Project Ekur is the "next multiplayer project" coming from Halo Studios.
That said, Rebs Gaming also heard from another source that Project Ekur had been swallowed into the next major mainline Halo title, suggesting that it could be a single mode within a larger game, instead of its own separate title.
Rebs Gaming also claims that the next era of the Halo franchise will adapt a Call of Duty framework, where different game modes between the core multiplayer, a campaign, and potentially this upcoming extraction shooter mode, all fall under a single launcher, and players select which they want to engage with from there, like how you'll find Warzone, regular Call of Duty multiplayer matches, and the campaign under one umbrella.
Once again, it's worth taking all of this with a grain of salt. Extraction shooters are the current hot trend in the industry, thanks to games like ARC Raiders and on a smaller scale, Marathon. It wouldn't be the biggest surprise to learn that publishers, like Xbox, are looking at the commercial success of ARC Raiders and the critical success of Marathon and wondering if they can find a path to an extraction shooter within their own portfolio that could become the next big live service juggernaut before another publishes cracks that code.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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