343 Industries Says Halo ‘Is Here To Stay’ As Xbox CEO Addresses Recent Layoffs

Last week saw Microsoft lay off around 10,000 employees which included 343 Industries developers working on Halo Infinite’s single-player campaign. The game’s creative director was also transferred to Xbox’s publishing division and the position permanently removed. Naturally, this has caused concern among the game’s community over the future of the multiplayer shooter.

343 Industries’ studio head Pierre Hintze, however, was quick to reassure the community that they’ll continue to the game in spite of the layoffs. “343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great,” tweeted Hintze. “Halo and Master Chief are here to stay.”

Meanwhile, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has addressed the massive round of layoffs in an email to the remaining employees in his division, saying that it’s a challenging time for the company and that the layoffs were “painful choices” that they unfortunately had to make.

An Xbox employee furnished Kotaku with a copy of the said email which you’ll find below:

This has been a difficult week across Microsoft, and here, inside our teams. Now that many of the 1:1 and team conversations have happened, I want to take a moment to reiterate the message that you heard from your leaders.

This is a challenging moment in our business, and this week’s actions were painful choices. The Gaming Leadership Team had to make decisions that we felt set us up for the long-term success of our products and business, but the individual results of those decisions are real. I know that hurts. Thank you for ing our colleagues as they process these changes.

Over the coming weeks we will have many opportunities to connect and answer your questions, including the Monthly Gaming Update next week for teams who attend that meeting, and I am in close with teams at ZeniMax to provide . The GLT and I are committed to being as transparent as we can. Moving forward with ambiguity is challenging, but I am confident that together, we will get through this difficult moment in time.

Xbox has a long history of success thanks to the work you do in service of players, creators, and each other. Your work is so deeply appreciated and valued in these times of change and is integral to our business momentum. I am confident in our future and proud to be part of this team, but also conscious that this is a challenging time and I want to thank you for everything you do here.

Phil

Aside from 343 Industries, other subsidiaries affected by the layoffs included ZeniMax Media, Bethesda Game Studios, and The Coalition. The newly-formed ZeniMax worker’s union is currently in the process of negotiating an alternative to layoffs, as revealed by the CODE-CWA. This is barely a year after Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for a whopping $70 billion.