As 343 Industries have been reportedly removed from future Halo projects, ex-developers have taken to Twitter to blame Microsoft for franchise struggles.
Earlier in the week, Microsoft announced a major layoff campaign that affected 10,000 employees, and 343 Industries took a huge chunk of that number to the tune of around 60 employees, according to Lords of Gaming. With the departure of Bonnie Ross in September, and Veteran Developer, Joseph Staten exiting 343 and retaking a place among Xbox Publishing, it’s safe to say 343 Industries is trimming down to a fraction of what it once was. 343 Industries has also reportedly been taken off direct development of future Halo titles for a more ‘overseer’ type role for the future, according to GameSpot.
While 343 and Microsoft are reeling from the recent layoffs, ex-Halo developers have taken to Twitter to voice their concerns over the ‘mismanagement’ of what was once the largest Microsoft gaming franchise. Former Multiplayer Designer Patrick Wren said, “The layoffs at 343 shouldn’t have happened, and Halo Infinite should be in a better state. The reason for both of those things is incompetent leadership up top during Halo Infinite development causing massive stress on those working hard to make Halo the best it can be,” regarding the situation at Microsoft following up with the Tweet below:
Another former employee from 343 Industries, Tyler Owens included, “As a Halo fan I’m really tired of Microsoft business practices & policies slowly killing the thing I love between the contracting policies they abuse for tax incentives & layoffs in the face of gigantic profits/executive bonuses… they set Halo up for failure,” about the recent failures Microsoft has experienced while saying “I don’t want to work in games if it means I have to be silent about mistreatment of devs from both players & the industry at large” regarding potential other silent parties in this scenario.
One thing is certain from all of this job-cutting news following Amazon, Microsoft and Google, thousands of tech-related jobs have been cut this week by huge companies, and ultimately everyone loses. Fans will have to wait to find out more regarding this situation between Microsoft and 343 Industries.
