Layoffs: Hello, uncertain future at 343 Industries? The studio boss answered!
Game News Layoffs: Hello, uncertain future at 343 Industries? The studio boss answered!
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Last week, we learned that 10,000 jobs were laid off at Microsoft, including a number at its Xbox branch and more specifically at 343 Industries (Halo), The Coallition (Gears 5) and Bethesda (Starfield). Therefore, the Master Chief’s future at 343 Industries seemed to be in jeopardy.
Layoffs, departures, 343 Industry in uncertainty
As we said recently, Che Chou, former head of eSports from Halo, predicted that we were facing a “massacre”, and it was more than 60 developers have lost their jobs. According to another source, 130 people will be asked to find a new job. Differences explained by the integration of service providers, incl many artists, whose contracts will not be renewed. By the way, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier came up with the idea single player content and team campaign who will be most affected. Before that, we already knew departure from Chris Lee (halo Infinite director), Nicolas Bouvier (art director), David Berger (engine) and Bonnie Ross (founder).
To this added Joseph Staten arrives as reinforcements during development, that is back to the editing side at Microsoft. However, after numerous adventures and announced delays following an inconclusive presentation in 2018, Halo Infinite was generally very well received, with a campaign with a narrative closer to Master Chief’s, and effective multiplayer. But those same multiplayer modes have put off some budding Spartans. that forge mode is absentupdates were slow to arrive, and the Battle Pass progression system lack of balance. Patrick Wren, a former multiplayer team member now on Respawn, gestured to his side “leadership incompetence” studio during development, which led to great emphasize.
343 Industries, on my way to become a supervisor Hello?
So what will be the consequences for Halo Infinite and 343 Industries? According to the Spartan Bathrobe, planned content for 2023 will not be affected by this dismissal, but DLC Master Chief-centric content will be sidelined, with the new management team preferring to emphasize multiplayer. Lastly, it could be that 343 Industries, like Konami, are satisfied managing follow-up while overseeing the work of other studios at Hello. JV sources largely corroborate these claims, but the studio apparently disagrees. On the evening of Saturday, January 21, the official Twitter account of the Halo license published a short message, written by Pierre Hintzestudio director.
Halo and Master Chief will still be here. 343 Industries will continue to develop Halo, either in the near future or in the future, which includes the epic story, multiplayer and much more that made Halo great.
A form of denial which doesn’t, however, rule out the fact that other studios may expand things in the mythical universe created by Bungie over 20 years ago. Obviously, the comments were not long in coming. Some players breathe, relieved that franchise wasn’t ruled out, but others sighed. As Paralex commented, many players feel the same way “bad news disguised as good news”. Finally, some users remain suspiciousand waiting to see more:
Honestly I will believe it when I see it. I love Halo, but my goodness you’ve treated her badly. And please, for God’s sake, take the IP from Paramount.
— Orchid (@HeyItsOrchid) January 21, 2023
Honestly, I will believe it when I see it. I love Halo, but damn you treat it so badly. And please, for heaven’s sake, revoke Paramount’s license.
We have to wait several weeks or even months before seeing more clearly. Layoffs have just occurred, emotions are still running high, and many of the statements, conditionally anonymous or not, may reflect the different realities that will develop. Despite everything, and whatever the reality behind the various sources, Halo seems to have a future. It remains only to find out which one.
