Halo Studios is facing a lot of tension and doubt on its new project, with Microsoft pushing for AI based workforce changes in the development team.
Speaking to Engadget, an anonymous Halo Studios developer revealed that Microsoft is trying its best to replace as many jobs as it can with AI agents. According to them, nobody in the development team is currently happy about the quality of the new project it has been working on. They added that there has been a lot of tension at the studio, with pep talk from higher management trying to rally the team to ship the game.
The anonymous developer confirmed that Halo Studios is currently working on multiple games, including the next mainline Halo installment. They brought up one project in particular that was recently in development crisis.
According to the Halo Studios employee, since 2023, Microsoft shifted toward working with contracted studios instead of individual contractors in the United States and Europe in order accelerate the production of Halo titles. They feel that Xbox is years behind the curve in game development, and it leads to a lot of wasted time and effort.
As for the recent layoffs at Xbox, the developer noted that at least five Halo Studios employees were let go, while 200 to 300 people remain. They expressed their anger over Phil Spencer’s email to the development team, bragging about how Xbox had its most profitable year ever for while also going ahead with the layoffs.
The aforementioned layoffs at Xbox have reportedly led to the cancellation of multiple projects. This includes Rare’s Everwild, a project reportedly in development for over a decade, The Initiative’s Perfect Dark, and an unannounced new intellectual property from Zenimax Online. In addition, Microsoft’s Barcelona-based King division, responsible for Candy Crush, is said to be cutting around 10 percent of its staff, or roughly 200 roles.
