Gaming
Xbox Handed Halo to Activision and Called the Shuffle a Reset
Microsoft confirmed this week that 268 roles are being eliminated across Halo Studios, other first party studios, and the central Xbox Game Studios management layer, in what the company calls the next step of the Xbox reset. Studio head Matt Booty wrote that the moves since July, including studio divestitures, bring the company roughly three quarters of the way through its previously announced restructuring.
The headline is less the number than the new org chart. Halo, the franchise that defined Xbox, now sits under Activision, with a small Halo Studios team remaining to support the community. Rare, the storied British studio Microsoft acquired in 2002, also moves under Activision management. Bethesda takes control of Obsidian, which will lead a new Fallout project in collaboration with Bethesda. Playground Games and Turn 10 merge into a single studio focused on Forza and Fable, and King absorbs Microsoft Casual Games.
This follows the July round in which Xbox cut 1,600 roles, a move CEO Asha Sharma called the most significant restructure in Xbox history, and sold off four studios. The divestitures have a bright side the headlines skip. Double Fine and Compulsion are independent studios again, with Double Fine already running a Kickstarter for its next title. Windows Central reports the final tally may fall short of the originally announced 3,200, as Microsoft shifts people between departments where it can.
The angle worth sitting with. Microsoft is turning Xbox from a console division into a portfolio manager. Franchises are being assigned to whichever house fits them best, Halo to the Call of Duty machine, Fallout to the RPG specialists, Forza and Fable under one roof. It is an admission that creative output now leads the strategy.
Consider what this portfolio logic unlocks. Halo gains access to Activision's live service engine room, the deepest bench in the business for running a forever game. Obsidian, the studio behind some of the most beloved RPGs ever made, gets a straight line to Fallout, a franchise its founders helped create. When franchises sit with the teams built for their genres, the ceiling for each one rises.
There is real pain in the transition, and the consultation process now underway at Ninja Theory shows the reset is still moving. But the through line favors builders. Studios landing under publishers that understand their genres, plus newly independent teams owning their own futures, is a healthier map than a bloated central org chart. For players, the question is simpler and more exciting. What does a Halo built with Activision's live service engine room actually look like?
Quick answers
What is this story about?
Microsoft confirmed this week that 268 roles are being eliminated across Halo Studios, other first party studios, and the central Xbox Game Studios management layer, in what the company calls the next step of the Xbox reset. Studio head Matt Booty wrote that the moves since July, including studio divestitures, bring the company roughly three quarters of the way through its previously announced restructuring.
Why does this story matter?
There is real pain in the transition, and the consultation process now underway at Ninja Theory shows the reset is still moving. But the through line favors builders. Studios landing under publishers that understand their genres, plus newly independent teams owning their own futures, is a healthier map than a bloated central org chart. For players, the question is simpler and more exciting. What does a Halo built with Activision's live service engine room actually look like?
Sources
- Insider Gaming: Xbox layoffs and studio consolidation confirmed
- Nintendo Wire: 268 jobs cut, Halo and Rare to Activision
- Nintendo Life: Xbox layoffs expected to fall short of 3,200
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