Following the news that Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Bethesda Game Studios and Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries had been affected. An email from 343’s studio head Peter Hintze to staff revealed that it “made the difficult decision to restructure elements of our team, which means some roles are being eliminated.”
Halo Infinite’s multiplayer and live service elements will continue to be supported. Creative director Joseph Staten, who joined in 2020 to help get development on track, has left and rejoined Xbox’s publishing division.
Schreier revealed in some follow-up tweets that the scale of layoffs at Bethesda is unknown (with Microsoft declining to comment). However, several employees reportedly said 343 Industries was “hit hard.” The campaign team has particularly suffered, which lines up with Hintze’s email about some roles being “eliminated.”
Halo Infinite is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It had a rough time last year with rumored contractor departures and slow content updates but seemed to get back on track with its Winter update. 343 Industries even confirmed it was still on track with its 2023 roadmap.
The scale is not yet clear, but Bloomberg has so far confirmed job cuts at Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield) and 343 Interactive (Halo). A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on how many employees of the gaming division were laid off
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 18, 2023
Microsoft won't share specific numbers, but several employees have told me that 343 Industries was hit hard. This comes in the wake of a long-running hiring freeze and a lot of contractor departures
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 18, 2023
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
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