Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that as part of their continued reset of the XBOX brand and its studios that its Activision division will now takeover the Halo franchise of games.
Microsoft further announced that they are “eliminating 268 roles across Halo Studios.” It is unclear what positions these are, and how the studio will operate now that their namesake title has been revoked from their oversight.
Formerly 343 Industries, Halo Studios assumed development duties of the Halo franchise after the release of Halo Reach in 2010, in which original developer Bungie abandoned the series and ceased their partnership with Microsoft to go independent.
As Halo Studios, the development team has released only one game: a remake of the very first Halo game titled Halo: Campaign Evolved, which arrived on July 28 of this year. The game was the very first in the series to appear on PlayStation consoles as it saw a simultaneous release on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. Despite launching on so many devices, overall sales were reported to be disappointingly low at only 1.2 million copies at launch.
Activision on the other hand is a major gaming publisher and developer with numerous historic franchises under its banner, including the extremely popular Call of Duty franchise of first-person shooters. Microsoft acquired the company in October 2023 in one of the largest acquisitions in gaming history.
Although Activision has plenty of experienced teams who have worked on FPS games like Halo, the Halo series plays in a very particular way that can be seen as quite different from other titles such as Call of Duty. It remains to be seen which Activision team will take the helm of the next Halo game, and if they will work to preserve the Halo identity, or attempt to transform it into a more traditional gameplay style.
What are your thoughts on Halo now being under Activision’s control? Do you see the Halo franchise changing dramatically under new leadership? Sound off in the comments below, and stay with us for all your gaming news!
Source: Xbox
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