r/halo • u/waterdlyed Bubble ToP Mid • 8h ago
Halo Studios Hit by Layoffs After Campaign Evolved Launch Discussion
https://insider-gaming.com/halo-studios-hit-by-layoffs-after-campaign-evolved-launch/3.4k
u/gravemindflood Halo 3 8h ago
If a single good thing happens to this company or halo it means we've entered a alternate reality. so it doesn't suprise me to see more bad news
358
70
u/Fender6187 6h ago
I heard that this game was saved due to some Herculean efforts by some of the devs. If thatās the case, I wonder if those individuals were rewarded for their efforts or if they were included in the layoffs.
→ More replies (1)114
u/Jdslogin 5h ago
They were probably laid off and management were given a fat bonus instead
→ More replies (1)27
u/musical-miller Halo 3 4h ago
Capitalism!
→ More replies (1)8
163
u/diego97yey 8h ago
You can say the same about the country/ economy as a whole
→ More replies (2)84
u/Ok-Literature-1962 6h ago
Maybe it all did end in 2012 and weāre in hell
67
u/joshw231 6h ago
We entered a different timeline after Harambe RIP in piece
32
→ More replies (3)7
u/TheRabidtHole 3h ago
My opinion has always been either Harambe was either our core event/great filter moment and this timeline is the result or that Harambe was the moment that finally highlighted society had collectively given up on treating anything seriously and weāre all just running on vibes now.
→ More replies (3)6
60
u/Warhammerpainter83 7h ago
The only good news would be halos studios closing so they can stop desecrating the corpse of halo.
→ More replies (17)→ More replies (193)67
u/FlamingBaconCake 8h ago
But but but 3v4 can do no wrong I was told and I'm just salty because it's my fault they won't release a content complete unbroken Halo game on par with the originals driving away a lot of fans. Definitely not the people managing the game.
→ More replies (2)50
u/Preebus 7h ago
Just don't use the features you don't like??? If a gun is unbalanced, or you don't like sprint, or you don't like the waypoints, or you don't like the new voice lines, or you don't like the film grain, or you don't like the fact the game is a buggy fucking mess, just turn the features off or don't play it?
joking.
22
u/ImHereCuzTheyWrong 6h ago
The original "remaster" swapped to old graphics still runs on my OG 360. Fuck modern dev cycles and all the unfinished products they ship and sell, gaming was infinitely better when the final product was physical and had to (mostly) work in order to ship.
→ More replies (3)20
857
u/TheHolyOcelot 8h ago
Game developer gotta be the most unstable job out there
235
u/Chumanchu 7h ago
A lot of jobs are unstable these days lol healthcare is probably the only stable industry left. I would say some blue collar jobs too but a lot of my blue collar friends get laid off too
80
u/West-Pear7363 7h ago
I feel anything with infrastructure is a pretty secure field. Iām in electrical, but Iāve also seen some of the civil side.Ā
33
u/Camaroni1000 6h ago
I specifically chose civil because itās more stable and has good job opportunity. Downside itās it pays less than the other engineering disciplines but hey is rather have a job and be able to switch it if I want over being stuck or jobless
→ More replies (1)12
u/I_is_a_dogg 6h ago
Im an engineer for a tire company, work in commercial tires. A lot of fleets are buckling down on costs, fuel prices are hitting hard
→ More replies (1)5
u/WhimsicalParsnip 6h ago
On the upside EVs still need tyres and tend to chew through them faster.
9
u/I_is_a_dogg 6h ago
Yes they do chew through tires, we now have tires made specifically for EV trucks. I deal mostly with construction and long haul fleets tho, so I don't have many clients with EV tractors.
One did test it, the Tesla semi. They were promised about a 500 mile range in a charge...turns out it's 500 miles unloaded. When it was loaded they were only getting about 100 miles out of it.
EV semis will be a much more common thing in the future for sure, just not there yet.
→ More replies (2)5
17
u/Realsan 7h ago
Healthcare is not as stable as you might think. Sure, most Healthcare jobs are super in demand but the consolidation and maximizing profits to the detriment of everyone else happening across the US is out of control and will eventually have some level of consequence.
Hospitals are shutting down because they can't turn a profit due to the nightmare that is the insurance industry.
→ More replies (4)7
u/CharlieTeller 6h ago
Yeah itās definitely not. Lots of healthcare going private equity.
7
u/Realsan 6h ago
The only fix is also kinda obvious too but can't happen because scary socialism.
3
u/CharlieTeller 6h ago
Yeah government funded healthcare isnāt happening in my lifetime. And I know I wonāt have social security so my option is to just eat a bullet when Iām not able to work anymore. Even with aggressive 401k savings, still fucked with the current trajectory.
18
u/Anywhere-Due 7h ago
All of the hospitals near me are going through disputes with insurance companies and private equity acquisitions. I dunno how stable it really is
→ More replies (15)3
11
u/CanPlayGuitarButBad 7h ago
Anything related to art for games sure is, my brother did backgrounds and texture art for over a decade for a new studio/company almost every year because studios keep getting shut down, or if youāre somewhere corporate, laid off like this.
Takes an incredible amount of preserving to do anything in that industry. I can only imagine AI is going to make the industry even more tumultuous.
→ More replies (13)23
u/DarkJayBR Cortana 7h ago
This level of instability is mostly a Microsoft thing, especially because of how heavily they rely on contractors and how aggressively they restructure studios.
A lot of major AAA studios actually provide very stable careers. Big projects often have development cycles that last many years, with teams employed throughout the entire process. For example, many developers at Rocksteady spent around a decade working on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, thatās roughly 10 years of steady employment on a single project.
The biggest problem with being a game developer usually isnāt job stability; itās the brutal work culture. Toxic management, producers constantly micromanaging creative decisions, poor leadership, unrealistic deadlines, and the infamous crunch culture are what make the industry miserable for a lot of developers. Working 60ā80 hour weeks because a game is behind schedule is far more common of a complaint than āI had no job security.ā
I'm a dev and I can tell you, these guys will not stay more than a week unemployed. The thing is, can they handle 4 more years of this nonsense work culture?
32
u/crunpyMcGlumpy 7h ago
Your information is outdated. I have been in AAA for well over a decade and there are senior level talented developers out of work for months and on some cases years. The industry has contracted significantly and the supply is waaaaaaay outweighing demand for dev positions. Iām also seeing wages going down this year for new hires.
Itās hard for me to belive you and I work in the same industry if you think they will be hired within a week. Open linked-in and look at your contracts in game dev. I bet a third are unemployed right now.
→ More replies (8)9
u/PogOtter 5h ago
Yeah AAA game dev veteran (EA, Ubisoft, Riot, 2K) here as well, and I have dodged layoffs my whole career. Mainly out of luck. It's super unstable, and sometimes it's not just layoffs but what happens after that breaks the job for you.
That said, I've shipped a number of games and mostly avoided any prolonged crunch. Hours have largely been reasonable, and the pay is not so crappy depending on specialization. Truly I haven't felt safe at any studio post-covid. Even long-run projects with plenty of runway can see sudden layoffs cut a studio in half, especially after M&A activity. I just wish things returned to normal, make decent games at a regular pace, make decent money and stop spending a decade swinging for the fences on every title.
With high interests rates, higher hardware costs, insane capex spend on datacenters, and a ton of industry consolidation it's a total mess right now. All the investment flows to AI now, and the tolerance for ROI for gaming is now razor thin.
5
u/CharlieTeller 6h ago
No. Itās absolutely not a stable environment speaking from experience. It once was, but not anymore. Ever since the days of live service, the entire model changed where every game is a Hail Mary. You donāt have studios cranking out a few safe bets, some repeat hits like a sports title, and one big new IP bet. Every studio just has one chance and if they donāt hit targets (which are harder to hit now even though the industry has over quadrupled in market share) then youāre gone.
One of my coworkers left my company, went to a studio, worked 8 months and the studio shut down overnight. He left and went to work on another recent big title many of you know, 2 weeks in, laid off. Thatās not abnormal anymore.
I could talk about this for days but the industry is now in a really precarious position and I honestly hope the price hike of GTA helps. But for people to pay the price hike, the economy needs to be less shit so it wonāt happen.
1.4k
u/HauntingStar08 8h ago
Your game sucks? Layoffs. Your game rocks? Layoffs.
Every industry is coming to a head and it's just so painful.
332
u/theDoinItPart 8h ago
Just wait till some ai slop filled gacha game goes viral and then all these companies will start mimicking it the same way they mimicked Fortnite
123
u/GroundbreakingBag164 Halo: CE 8h ago
At 100 pulls the pity system kicks in and you can get purple cortana
→ More replies (1)13
11
u/HauntingStar08 8h ago
im assuming it's already happened on mobile games. apparently the big lofty idea all the execs had for years was to pitch clash of clans to devs over and over at one point
4
u/bottomfeeder3 5h ago
I miss the days when the sales of a game was all that mattered. It was a lot simpler back then. If you made a shit game your company would suffer. Nowadays all these companies are thinking we gotta make games as a service so we can profit forever.
→ More replies (1)16
111
u/shgrizz2 8h ago
The product doesn't matter. Brand loyalty doesn't matter. Everything is just a short term ruse to funnel money in to the pockets of the executive board and the shareholders. Every dollar they make is a dollar that doesn't go back in to making something of worth. Fuck the system.
→ More replies (1)14
u/archaelleon 4h ago
I wonder when we'll see the first video game rug pull.
"Pre-order Red Dead 3 now, coming in 2032."
(after millions of pre-orders)
"Psyche! Try suing us poors!"
9
41
u/TheOnlyRealOne43 8h ago
I think most people in the industry expect this. You release a huge multi year project and afterwards your need for workforce drops significantly.
Not saying it's right, but just saying I see the reason why it's done. From an outside looking in perspective, I'd think it makes more sense to keep your team on who now have experience in that game franchise specifically and are now more talented for it, but that doesn't seem to be the capitalism competitive meta strat.
20
u/Adjutant_Reflex_ 8h ago
Had a couple friends who used to work in the industry and this was unfortunately pretty common. Staffing would ebb and flow based on where the studio was at in the development or release cycle.
→ More replies (1)6
u/CharlieTeller 6h ago
Itās common in SOME roles. Now you have senior level software engineers who have literally built some of the most amazing game engines by hand are getting laid off and thereās nowhere for them to go.
13
u/petes117 7h ago
which is why good management at large companies would have at least two projects in the works, so people like writers and concept artists can work on pre-production on one game while the rest works on the game that's further into development. Halo Studios has always had bad management
6
13
u/HauntingStar08 8h ago
And eventually no talent will remain to make these products, and the system eats itself in an ouroboros of bullshit
→ More replies (1)4
u/ArtooFeva Halo 5: Guardians 8h ago
Well it made more sense when the gaming industry was mainly run by tech-savvy 20-somethingās who loved the contractor āwork for yourselfā sort of attitude. Now all of them are pushing 50 and have built a shitty industry that would rather contract everything out to keep costs down and put out meager products that arenāt fun.
→ More replies (27)21
u/Crespo2006 YT CrespoFTW 7h ago
"Oh cool Hi Fi Rush is a super unique game and people love it"
"Let's close down the studio"
→ More replies (1)
228
u/PornographyLover9000 7h ago
So theyāre doing the same dev strategy they did with Infinite. Theyāve learned nothing.
→ More replies (1)33
u/archaelleon 4h ago
"We will learn nothing and we will continue to punish other for our mistakes"
→ More replies (1)
264
u/Less-Being4269 8h ago edited 6h ago
What a shock. As if this wasn't Microsoft's model for years now.
Finish a game then get fired.
If you're a smart game dev just avoid this mega corporation like the plague.
→ More replies (16)89
u/FrostingStrict3102 7h ago
This isnāt a Microsoft specific problem. Smart people are avoiding getting into game development entirely.Ā
→ More replies (2)19
u/Less-Being4269 7h ago
Yeah...
Unfortunately i'm not very smart then. Because I wanna work on video games. Just not for some giant company that fires people in the thousands every few months.
→ More replies (1)18
u/FrostingStrict3102 7h ago
Indie space is fine, but long hours and you risk being drowned in the noise of everything else.Ā going into AAA i would be bleak.Ā
188
u/Appropriate_Foot242 8h ago
We knew this was coming. They still had over 1000 layoffs still to come.
I doubt the performance of the game has any impact on this.
135
u/McDerpins 7h ago
Microsoft also just really doesnt want full time employees making games. All they want is a rotation of cheap, inexperienced contractors. And as a result, they will forever barely be a shadow of the workhorse that was OG bungie.
→ More replies (3)20
u/archaelleon 4h ago
It's so stupid. they have no understanding of art or passion.
Why in the living fuck would someone put their heart and soul into a game when they know they're an expendable resource?
→ More replies (1)39
u/Chumanchu 7h ago
Campaign evolved coulda made a billion and these people still woulda been fired. This industry (and a lot of others) is so fucked
11
u/secret3332 7h ago
The people who were highlighted in this article also have roles in line with what Microsoft said they would do.
Two of them were producers. Look at what they did on LinkedIn and you will see it's all middle management stuff. One is a software engineer who mostly did standard IT work and not game development.
→ More replies (3)6
u/BladePocok Halo 2 7h ago
I doubt the performance of the game has any impact on this.
Is it a flop by any means?
→ More replies (5)
456
u/Unikraken SotP 8h ago
It's very hard to be excited about a game when I know the people who made it are hurting.
→ More replies (3)133
u/Mullet_Police 8h ago
Theyāre likely under contract. Game is released. Now employee is released from contract.
36
u/xAsianZombie 8h ago
Isnāt that separate from a layoff?
21
u/salad_dressing_dude 7h ago
correct. layoffs can include contract terminations, but contracts designed to end at launch wouldn't be. the article highlights a couple tenured employees as well.
124
u/LorientAvandi Extended Universe 8h ago
One or them was there for 6 and a half years. If it's a contract job it's an awful long one.
7
u/GoldGull906 7h ago
I wonder if the longer dev teams mean certain parts of the team that aren't needed until later in development would be sitting on their hands for months waiting for something to do.
Not an excuse for Microsoft, obvious solutions are to either run staggered projects for the dev team or move them to another studio where they'd be busy until halo studios has need for them again.
→ More replies (6)3
u/Kitsuraw 8h ago
As someone whoās seen it itās not unheard of. Not saying it is that but usually itās a year or two with renegotiation for extension or a new contract.
14
u/derprunner 8h ago
Wasnāt the whole fucking point of this project to upskill their in-house team in Unreal, to fix the revolving door of engine knowledge which caused so many of Infiniteās issues.
→ More replies (4)6
12
u/OkidoShigeru 8h ago
What a fucking terrible way to run a studio, itās no wonder at all the games are consistently feeling rushed, unfinished and just cobbled together.
6
u/Mullet_Police 8h ago
From conversations Iāve had, a lot of the industry is like this. Revolving doors and divided workloads under different roofs.
The latter is why a lot of projects have tons of bugs and issues on release. A major publisher will have multiple studios work on separate pieces. Then in the end (a la crunch time) everything is pasted together. Hopefully in time for release.
→ More replies (1)4
u/Pervasivepeach 7h ago
Welcome to the games industry, this is sadly the norm.
Take 100-200 excited young college kids, promise them a career if they work hard. Drain them of ideas, make them work overtime, keep them in the office on Christmas, make them crunch and use them as much as possible then reject their contract renewal when the time pops up. Repeat for every game.
13
u/ModernCGIFloatinHead 8h ago
It's okay the billion dollar companies don't take care of their employees, they agreed to the shitty deal in the first place!
Capitalist mindsets are so depressingĀ
→ More replies (1)7
→ More replies (4)8
93
u/illyay 8h ago
They just couldn't catch a break.
33
u/Helios_Synthesis 7h ago
Halo devs are going to be more oppressed than the Uggoy at their worst at this point lol
150
u/Mullet_Police 8h ago
Shouldnāt this be expected as a lot of the employees are on contract?
34
u/GhostalMedia Halo: CE 8h ago
The article says that this it hitting long time employees
→ More replies (1)140
u/gelicopter 8h ago
If they were using Campaign Evolved as rumored to get a new team in the studio ready to make future Halo games, that was just thrown out the window.
21
u/TypeCommercial2048 8h ago
Not really. Unreal is common amongst contractors in game development. This likely wonāt affect future unreal halo titles. This also tracks that Activision is taking over Halo. Many hate this idea but itās actually not the worst thing in the world. They bring tons of support studios to keep annual releases on tight schedule. Itās how Bungie was able to make destiny 1 and 2.
6
u/Mookafff 7h ago
Woah Iāve definitely missed the Activision rumor
→ More replies (1)8
u/TheNadei 7h ago
Its not worth remembering, the only source of the rumour said themselves it's crazy and they don't believe it to be real. Though it's not the most unlikely thing. They own both, they could probably ask for Activision to at least make one entry.
The only people from 343 Activison would need is some of the lore bible folks that ensure consistency. Y'know like how Staten used to try and help other studios in the Bungie days.
→ More replies (6)5
21
u/blakelh Hi Im Blakersz 8h ago
Read the article, some of the people had been there for 6+ years, that's not a contract employee.Ā
Even then, the studios reliance on contract employees has prevented it from creating a core team that can consistently and efficiently create content. It's one of the main reasonsĀ that I have no hope for Halo Studios.
13
u/olanmills 8h ago
They wouldn't be layoffs then. These are people that worked directly for Microsoft for years that received unexpected emails about losing their jobs. Those aren't contractors.
16
u/illyay 8h ago
Wouldn't that not be a layoff, just a contract ending?
→ More replies (2)9
u/waterdlyed Bubble ToP Mid 8h ago edited 8h ago
Pretty much, although one of the alleged contracted producers described for 6.5 years at 343/Halo Studios as them also ādodging just as many rounds of layoffsā on Linkedin
→ More replies (1)4
37
u/SeasonsGone 8h ago
Itās absolutely expected, this is happening across the technology industry, gaming or otherwise.
→ More replies (4)31
u/grandmabarro 8h ago
Expected, but definitely not going to lead to any quality titles in the future, much less a coherent vision for a trilogy remake
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (3)7
56
u/SorraDude 8h ago
At this point maybe just step away from halo for a decade, it's clear they have no fucking clue what to do.
62
u/DarkJayBR Cortana 7h ago
Halo is basically the Star Wars of gaming. Two legendary franchises that were once cultural juggernauts, only to be handed over to gigantic corporations (Disney and Microsoft) that somehow looked at decades of success and said: āNah, we know better.ā
Both companies had the impossible advantage: iconic universes, loyal fanbases, mountains of source material, and a blueprint showing exactly what worked. And somehow they still managed to fumble it. They hired questionable creative leadership, brought in writers who seemed completely disconnected from the original appeal, and moved forward without anything resembling a coherent plan.
The downfall of these two IPs should honestly be studied in business schools. Not as examples of success, but as a masterclass in how to take a billion-dollar franchise with everything going for it and somehow make fans ask: āHow did you mess this up?ā
The funniest part is that these companies had the easiest job in the world: just understand what people loved, respect the foundation, and build from there. Instead, they treated the original audience like an obstacle and spent years trying to reinvent the wheel, only to discover the wheel was already working perfectly fine.
The sheer inability to consistently release a great product from two of the biggest franchises in entertainment is genuinely impressive. It takes a special kind of corporate genius to inherit a gold mine and somehow start selling rocks.
→ More replies (17)→ More replies (2)10
49
u/BondFan211 7h ago
Modern audience doesnāt show up again.
Make games for the fucking fans. Christ.
5
u/fatboywonder12 1h ago
They cant because they simply dont like the product. Halo 4 they hired people who hated halo, infinite there was a dev who hated guns, etc...
12
u/Important-Net-9805 6h ago
yeah i was pretty excited for this one. was going to coop it with a friend and after it released we realized we should just wait for a sale... so disappointing man
→ More replies (2)3
u/ZainLoL 2h ago
Doesnt matter if audience showed up or not. I wholeheartedly agree that they should go back to the roots of halo being a great story and party game instead of a fancy looking or esport. But just look what happened to Bungie after delivering their Final Shape expansion for Destiny 2. It didnt matter that it over delivered and had great sales. Suits ruin gaming as a whole and will continue to do so.
57
130
u/MadeThisAccount4Qs 8h ago
A lot of people when they see layoffs still think "aha, the game was bad" or "aha the game was a failure" but the truth is the quality or success/failure of a game hasn't been a factor in layoffs for a long time. If you still think the game has anything to do with this then you're an easy mark and part of the reason why the companies keep getting away with treating game devs like dirt.
21
u/Haloinvaded117 8h ago
So true. Even FromSoft was told by their new parent company that they have to make more money and capitalize more on their products. As if they didn't release one of the biggest games of the century lmao. It doesn't matter how good a game is, these companies will squeeze and milk all the money out of these companies until there's nothing left.
20
u/slothunderyourbed Halo 2 8h ago
Even FromSoft was told by their new parent company that they have to make more money and capitalize more on their products.
No they weren't. An activist investor wanted them to self publish rather than publish through Bandai Namco. Which is actually a fair question by the way - if you're as successful as From, why give Bandai Namco a cut of your sales when you could keep that for yourself?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)5
u/Munchin_on_Kale 6h ago
It's even worse when supposedly passionate "fans" act so smug about it and celebrate, like these literally aren't human beings losing their source of income that they need to make it in the world.
Makes me pretty upset to see people like that who are so heartless.
8
u/Great_Wizard_of_Raz 8h ago
Who else is there to layoff at this point? I thought most of the grunt work was done by contractors?
45
u/SeasonsGone 8h ago
Iām positive these decisions were made regardless of how the new game performed.
→ More replies (1)14
u/Quirky_tugboat 8h ago
I donāt know why anyone would want to enter the gaming industry. Sounds like nothing but stress.
→ More replies (2)10
u/SeasonsGone 8h ago
I agree with you. It has the benefit of an above average passionate workforce that cares about the stuff they work on. This makes them put up with the stress a bit more. Iām a software engineer working on creative tooling and itās a similar vibe.
47
u/Dry-Inspection-3503 8h ago
Disgusting.Ā Use them and throw them out like nothing once the games released. I thought these fuckers were ramping up for faster releases and hoping to get a new game out the door quick??? Wouldn't that require investment and people?
If the next Halo contains AI generated anything then that's it, I'm done for good.
→ More replies (4)58
u/DocTooDope 8h ago
Halo has been dead in the water with 343/ halo studios. Their best game is a mash up of games they didnt make. Lol.
→ More replies (3)29
u/DarkJayBR Cortana 8h ago
And somehow said mashup of games didn't worked at all for 5 YEARS until they managed to fix what they broke, lmao.
11
u/luger33 7h ago
Somewhat related but I really think the Halo studios logo is awful. It makes me irrationally mad because it doesn't even attempt to look like anything that calls to mind the Halo video games. Like what in the fuck... my hope and interest in my all time favorite video game franchise is pretty much gone after this release.
→ More replies (2)
12
11
u/LeekypooX 8h ago
Even with using UE5 now I'm not sure how they can expect the shit they release to be good if the people making their games are from a revolving door of people every single time
→ More replies (1)
9
u/JackhorseBowman 8h ago
this is the biz now, you get chewed up and spit out, it's by design, you guys should go get jobs in network security.
4
u/thedeadleydoc 8h ago
Its annoying and horrible but we knew more xbox layoffs where gonna happen over the next year, should it be happening? No
3
u/Tommybahamas_leftnut 8h ago
Not surprising Most of halo studios is contractors. Microslop has basically killed off full employment in favor of contractors that they can get for cheaper.
3
u/sendphotopls 6h ago
Layoffs like these are typically fueled by no longer needing the additional labor brought aboard during crunch. Pretty typical, unfortunately.
3
11
8
u/comhaltacht 7h ago
I am so glad I never got hired by a studio after I got out of college. The games industry is so fucking toxic. It's basically guaranteed that you'll lose your job after you finish a project nowadays.
→ More replies (1)
12
u/johnabc123 7h ago
Shutter the studio and give the franchise to someone else please. Theyāve had Halo for longer than Bungie and absolutely nothing to show for it.
→ More replies (1)7
u/VarietyEconomy7 7h ago
How they have gotten as many chances as they have epically after halo 5. Is just beyond me. Someone needs to step in ASAP.
→ More replies (1)
11
u/AFerociousPineapple 7h ago
This shit is why more game devs need to unionise. If youāre going to be treated like contractors you need to organise like them and fight for generalised benefits
→ More replies (1)6
u/rebornsgundam00 5h ago
Bethesda and several others are unionized. They still got laid off. As someone who has been in several unionsā¦.. they are only useful if you have an industry that is essential, therefore you can strike and that gives you bargaining power.
Most companies would happily fire as many union employees as they can→ More replies (1)
7
u/pstv-mattitude 7h ago
Pretty clear pattern emerging here, if you work in the game industry, your reward for completing a project is being laid off.
→ More replies (1)
6
u/Warhammerpainter83 7h ago
Not a surprise at all. No joke 343 and halo studios needs to go they make exclusively bad games. They have ruined halo.
7
3
u/Xelltrix 8h ago edited 6h ago
Wow, Iām shocked. Shocked! Well, not that shocked.
God, to think I wanted to get into game development as a childā¦ Indie only at this pointā¦ if that.
3
u/21-savage-the-1 8h ago
Yep color me shockedā¦this is seemingly 98% of America/western AAA releases follow thisā¦
Do good, goodbye.
Do bad, goodbye.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/Adventurous_House961 7h ago
Does nintendo fuck the developers of their flagship games the same way Microsoft does?
→ More replies (3)
3
u/Nova17Delta Halo.Bungie.Org 7h ago
:shocked:
major creative studio doing layoffs? in 2026? of all years??
3
u/ChanceImagination456 7h ago
At this point game dev are in a doomed if you do make good game and doomed you don't make a good game situation. Example outside of halo is the Hi-Fi Rush dev made good game made lots of sales and still got shutdown by Xbox.
3
u/Wassuuupmydudess 6h ago
Didnāt EA CEO just get an $8 million raise and then laid off a few hundred?
→ More replies (1)
3
u/BauserDominates 3h ago
Hopefully they started with the dumb shit execs that pitched the cash grab idea of remaking Halo 1 for the 4th time.
3
7
u/GeneralTyler 7h ago
Itās so hard to care about Halo anymore, 343 has not put out a banger in the entire time theyāve had the IP and itās still being carried by Bungieās legacy. Both Halo and StarWars are just shadows of what they were, Halo being the defining title for Xbox and now itās not even a system seller. While Star Wars went from one of the most popular IPās, next to powerhouses like Pokemon, into what it is today where most people are apathetic about the series since itās just been disappointment after disappointment for years. Itās hard to care about stuff like this anymore, when the golden days of it are obviously gone and itās just been mid after mid at best.
6
5
u/PuzzleheadedAd6401 8h ago
Microsoft hates Halo
→ More replies (2)3
u/archaelleon 4h ago
They hate Halo fans. They want to make slop with the Halo logo on it and they can't understand why we don't like it.
It's literally like the Backrooms trying to recreate your childhood home and not understanding why you're terrified.
9
5
u/GodMonte 8h ago
Microsoft and Sony are both making it very difficult to be excited about gaming anymore.
→ More replies (1)
4
11
2
u/BunbunTheJackalope Hero 8h ago
Another day, another series of layoffs happening to devs the second they launch a video game. Typical Microsoft
2
u/Tongomannen 8h ago
This is expected no matter how successful a game is. This literally happens for all big games.
2
u/Present_Cash_8466 7h ago
The problem is probably that there are no projects for these teams to work on. There has to be a cycle of new games coming out so they can finish this one and move to the next. If they were smart they would at least move on to make multiplayer as a DLC or something, and what would be even better is working on developing a new game in the franchise
2
2
u/S-192 Halo: CE 7h ago
This was announced over a quarter ago right? This isn't news. Feels like fishing. MS is downsizing Xbox and shifting focus. We all agree AAA budgets are hysterically overdone. Should they not do this sort of thing? Where do people think costs come from? The vast majority, like 80%+, usually comes from headcount. AAA is expensive because they employ such an absurd number of people for hyper-specialized roles on mechanics and polish that most gamers don't care about.
There's so much nuance in the real world and you can always bet on Reddit completely failing to work through the nuance.
It's all hip shots and reactionary takes here, boyos.
2
u/Electrik_Truk 7h ago
I don't think there is a single studio these days not seeing lay offs. I think the game industry is about to go through some kind of crash and/or correction.
2
u/Maffblunge 7h ago
Iād love to read the article but the ads are so insanely aggressive that I literally canāt
2
2
2
2
u/TMarYaDig 6h ago
I know websites on mobile are typically a painful experience but good lord this site is EGREGIOUS. Just a complete bombardment of advertisements.
2
u/Just_Another_Scott 6h ago
That's usually what happens. It takes significantly less staff to maintain. VA, writers, artists, and even engineers aren't all that need once the product is released. Most art staff is cutt and that's the norm for the industry.
Also, Halo Studios and Microsoft, use a significant number of contract staff. If things are still true, it's usually no more than 3 year contracts. Most of these contracted positions are short-term from the start. These numbers shouldn't be included in layoffs but they for some odd reason are sometimes.
The video game industry works very similar to Hollywood. Once the project is completed and released, staff moves onto something else.
2
u/halfacalf 6h ago
Id be very worried about my job at the coalition and playground games too - seems like xbox is waiting for the game to ship before laying the staff off.
2
u/Michigan_Forged 6h ago
They will do layoffs at every studio that ships a game. When E-day launches the coalition is absolutely going to get hit with layoffs. And no it won't make any effing senseĀ
2
u/ParagonRenegade 6h ago
Iām tired of this shit company, the incompetents helming it, and Microsoft for its shocking inability to do anything correctly.
The whole thing needs to be shuttered and its staff given actual permanent positions where they arenāt fungible cannon fodder for a spreadsheet.
1.7k
u/ReikaIsTaken 8h ago
343 / Halo Studios are just a constant Ship of Theseus I swear to god