Halo developer slams Microsoft for lay-offs

A senior Halo developer has lashed out at Microsoft following thousands of lay-offs affecting the company, particularly its game studios.

Microsoft announced on Thursday that it would be laying off around 10,000 employees amid restructuring that has seen many of the company’s game studios downsizes.

According to a report by Bloomberg, industry veterans who have worked on Xbox games for more than a decade were affected, as were a number of other developers in Microsoft’s development studios.

343 Industries, the development team behind Halo Infinite and other recent Halo games, was reportedly among those affected, including Joe Staten, who joined 343 in 2020 to help steer Infinite in the right direction.

343 Industries studio head Pierre Hintze reportedly said in an email to employees that the company had “made the difficult decision to restructure elements of our team, which means some roles are being eliminated”.

Patrick Wren, the former senior multiplayer designer for the Halo series who has since left 343, took to Twitter to point the finger at Microsoft’s leadership, calling it “incompetent” and accusing it of causing “massive stress” for workers.

Halo Infinite developer 343 was established in 2007 after Bungie departed Microsoft. Picture: Microsoft

“The lay-offs at 343 shouldn’t have happened and Halo Infinite should be in a better state,” Wren wrote, “The reason for both of these 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”.

“The people I worked every day with were passionate about Halo and wanted to make something great for the fans,” Wren continued, “They helped push for a better Halo and got laid off for it”.

It comes as Microsoft attempts to spend $100 billion on acquiring major publisher Activision Blizzard, in what would be the largest acquisition in video game history.

343 promised that Halo Infinite would have couch co-op, but ultimately scrapped the feature after the game’s release. Picture: Microsoft

Microsoft isn’t the only company making cutbacks. A big Ubisoft game has been delayed six times, and three more unannounced titles were cancelled, following a massive economic downturn for the company.

An “insensitive” statement from the CEO about the cutbacks even caused Ubisoft workers to threaten to strike if they didn’t have an improvement in salaries and working conditions. CEO Yves Guillemot said that “the ball was in [the workers’] court” to deliver future projects on time and at the expected level of quality, after which many workers accused Guillemot of shifting the blame onto employees.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.