Microsoft Has a Very Bad Day
Microsoft seems to be having a rough time of it. Some major internal upheavals have left ten-thousand people without a job. The layoffs impact a wide selection of the company. As a result, projects like Starfield and Halo Infinite have been seriously impacted.
Microsoft is laying off 10,000 people today, including in its gaming divisions such as Xbox and Bethesda. This mass layoff arrives exactly one year after Microsoft announced plans to purchase Activision Blizzard for $69 billion https://t.co/KGJ4wFtCvB
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 18, 2023
Joseph Staten, a major figure in the hierarchy of 343 Industries and a beloved figure of the Halo community, is leaving 343. He’s still with Microsoft, just not involved with Halo anymore.
Those hoping for Halo Infinite story DLC will also share in today’s sorrow. It’s not known exactly how bad that part of 343 got hit, but we know it hit them hard. They seemed pretty weak already given how little we’ve heard from them. This might just be the final nail in their coffin.
It sounds like 343’s Halo Infinite campaign team got hit hard. In an email to staff, studio head Pierre Hintze wrote that “we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure elements of our team, which means some roles are being eliminated.” https://t.co/GhjZLz6m7V
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 18, 2023
The precise extent to which these changes will impact end products at Microsoft is unknown. Hopefully minimal, but likely not. With news as new as this, it’s a tough call to make. Time will tell.
How will 343 Industries move on from here? They promised a more reasonable pace for seasonal content updates, which excited many players. They even stealth-dropped a massive piece of content, receiving incredible praise for it. Will we ever see anything like that again? Are they capable of it? Make your thoughts known in the comments down below.