Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees last week citing the prevailing economic climate. The job cuts at the tech giant also affected the games division. Specifically, the developers at The Coalition, Bethesda Game Studios, and 343 Industries – the latter responsible for the Halo series. The studio, which has seen a spate of high-profile departures lately, has now taken to Twitter to reassure fans that it will continue developing Halo “now and in the future.” The development came after reports surfaced that future work on the popular franchise was being turned over to a third-party studio, with 343 Industries being placed in an oversight role.
A report in Metro, which translates renowned leaker Spartan bathrobe Original tip added that first plans for a Halo infinity Story-based DLC has been cancelled. The aforementioned layoffs further fueled speculation about it 343 branches plans to scale back its work on Halo Infinite and beyond, although studio head Pierre Hintze’s official statement paints a different picture. “gloriole and Master Chief are here to stay.” “343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great.” The narrative aspect is important to note here, as the report also indicated that the “core games” in the Halo franchise “will no longer have story campaigns”.
development on Halo infinity was shaky to say the least due to multiple delays and lead changes leading up to launch December 2021 and beyond. Even if you ignore the layoffs, several senior exitsincluding that of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer creative director Tom French and developers Joseph state, hit the company hard. The latter now joins Xbox Game Studios Publishing again. The news of the layoffs did not silence the former employees either, many criticize them Microsoft for Halo Infinite’s chaotic development cycle.
One such vocal figure is Patrick Wren, who spent eight years at 343 Industries. “The layoffs at 343 shouldn’t have happened and Halo Infinite should be in better shape. The reason for both of those things is the incompetent leadership at the top during the development of Halo Infinite, which puts tremendous pressure on those working hard to make Halo as good as possible,” he said tweeted after news broke of Microsoft’s layoffs.
While Halo Infinite got off to a strong start, both on the campaign and multiplayer fronts, 343 Industries eventually started taking Flak because it didn’t offer enough content. First up was the long-awaited co-op mode for the split-screen campaign, which was not only limited to network/online but also suffered delays that stretched well past the beta testing phases. The mode was originally supposed to drop in August 2022 but got it delayed into November and was included as part of the game’s winter update, which added a battle pass to the fold.
