Earlier this month, Microsoft announced its plan to cut 10,000 employees over the next two months in a bid to adapt to platform shifts as indicated by the company’s top executive. Last week, we reported that Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries would also be affected by these massive layoffs with approximately 60 jobs at stake.
What does this mean for the Halo franchise and developer 343 Industries moving forward? According to a report by IGN, Xbox boss, Phil Spencer indicated that Microsoft is still committed to supporting the franchise. “The heart and soul of Halo is with 343 and the team’s that there, and I have the utmost confidence in the team that’s there and leading and the plan that they have going forward,” said Spencer.
Pierre Hintze, the studio head also confirmed that Halo and Master Chief will be here for the long haul and that there are plenty of things to look forward to now and in the future. “343 Industries will continue to developer Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great.”
“What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build,” says Spencer. “Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo.” Phil didn’t go into details in regard to what these plans are, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
In other related news, it will be interesting to see how the integration of ChatGPT into Bing amid these massive layoffs. Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.