343 Industries is, as rumours swirling over the last couple of days have suggested, the name of Microsoft's new Halo studio.

So says the Los Angeles Times, reporting early on a Halo anime project set to be announced today at Comic Con in San Diego. (Wait, did we just say 'Halo anime'? Oh, yes, we did. More here). The publication describes the studio as Microsoft's "new internal division that's in charge of everything Halo". That 'division' is funding the animé project.

Frank O'Connor, formerly head writer at Bungie, is named as 343 Industries' creative director in the LA Times article.

Rumours about the name started doing the rounds after a trademark filing for '343 Industries' cropped up. '343 Guilty Spark' is the name of that pesky AI always trying to activate the Halo arrays and destroy all life in the galaxy, and so it is that Microsoft's new division got its name.

^{Source: LA Times}