As someone who constantly suffers from anxiety concerning losing my job and all the nightmares associated with that, I always feel a pit in my stomach when covering the gaming industry and its seemingly never-ending layoffs. Today Pierre Hintze from 343 Industries issued a statement ensuring gamers that the studio would continue to work on Halo and Master Chief despite being impacted by the 10,000-person round of layoffs at Microsoft.
“Halo and Master Chief are here to stay, 343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great.”
Currently, it’s impossible to know how many of the 10,000 workers Microsoft laid off were 343 developers, but losing even just a few core team members is enough to devastate a project. This statement by Pierre Hintze comes off the heels of the French Halo influencer Bathrobe Spartan, alleging that 343 saw a significant restructuring of its role in the franchise.
Bathrobe Spartan (side note: I love how I’m doing serious work and covering a serious topic with serious real-world repercussions and yet also calling someone “Bathrobe Spartan”) had claimed that 343 lost one-third of its workforce, including contractors and that 343 will step back into a coordinating role on the franchise as opposed to actively developing new Halo games.
When the news of the layoffs broke, one of the studio’s former developers Patric Wren and contractors, Nicholas Bird, also came forward to criticize 343 leadership for its treatment of workers and its direction on Halo Infinite.
What are your thoughts? Could 343 Industries pull together a great Halo game again? Let us know.