Following Xbox’s recent layoffs along with its move to consolidate its studios, a new report by The Verge’s Tom Warren indicates that Halo Studios had another project in the Halo franchise lined up. However, Microsoft decided to pull the plug on the project since it was still many years away from being shipped.
According to Warren, this is one of the main reasons why Xbox has moved the stewardship of the Halo franchise to Activision under “a new, purpose-built team”, while Halo Studios continues to exist as a “small team” that will support existing games and the Halo community.
As for why this Halo project was still years away, Warren has cited an anonymous source who told him about Halo Studios facing several setbacks due to leadership changes, technical shifts, and layoffs.
Halo Studios was originally founded in 2007 to look after the Halo franchise following Bungie’s decision to become independent. Known as 343 Industries at the time, Halo Studios got its start on the franchise by working alongside Bungie on DLC for Halo: Reach before then working on its own first major release – Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. This would be followed up with a full-fledged sequel, Halo 4, in 2012.
2014 would see the team release Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox One before shipping more mainline entries with 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians and 2021’s Halo Infinite. The team was rebranded to Halo Studios in 2024, with Halo: Campaign Evolved being its first and only release under its new name.
Throughout its stewardship of the Halo series, Halo Studios has seen plenty of criticism, ranging from the launch debacle for The Master Chief Collection to the disappointing campaign in Halo 5: Guardians. Even Halo: Campaign Evolved has seen its fair share of complaints from players, such as the fact that it doesn’t have any PvP content. For more on the remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, take a look at our review.
The decision to take Halo away from Halo Studios came alongside layoffs affecting 268 roles across Xbox’s various teams, which Xbox CCO Matt Booty said also included “management and central functions layer”. He also confirmed that the move brought Xbox “roughly three-quarters of the way through previously announced restructuring.”
Along with taking over Halo, Activision will also now be responsible for Age of Empires developer World’s Edge, and Sea of Thieves developer Rare. The restructuring also involved bringing Obsidian Entertainment under Bethesda, where the studio will continue to work on its new Fallout project. Turn 10 Studios – the team behind Forza Motorsport – is being merged with Playground Games, while Microsoft Casual Games falls under Candy Crush Saga developer King.
Activision president Rob Kostich said that the company wants to “make the greatest Halo game ever.” In a statement, he spoke about “staying true to what made players love it in the first place” and how the project will be “worthy of its universe and legacy”.
Rumors have indicated that the project will be a “full-feature, mainline installment”.
