Halo Studios cuts staff weeks after acclaimed campaign remake launch
Developing story first seen 3 hours ago
Halo Studios, the developer behind the newly released Halo: Campaign Evolved, has laid off several staff members despite the remake's strong critical reception, according to LinkedIn posts from affected employees first flagged by Insider Gaming. Those confirmed to have lost their roles include producer Nick Treitman, who worked on the game's social multiplayer systems and had been at the studio for 6.5 years, and scrum master Paul Morris, who had been there for over two years; software engineer Caleb Lawrence has also listed himself as "available for work" without publicly confirming a layoff. The cuts underline how even studios delivering acclaimed titles remain exposed to the games industry's ongoing job losses.
Campaign Evolved received strong reviews, including a 10/10 from VGC and 8.5/10 from Game Informer, making the layoffs notable given the game's success. They follow Xbox's announcement last month of more than 3,200 job cuts across its studios, to be phased in gradually until July 2027, and it remains unclear whether further reductions at Halo Studios will follow. Despite the cuts, Xbox appears set to continue its remake strategy, with a Halo 2 remake (and likely Halo 3) reportedly already in the works.
- Halo Studios cuts jobs despite Campaign Evolved's critical success
- Producer Nick Treitman, scrum master Paul Morris among those affected
- Follows Xbox's wider 3,200-job cuts announced last month
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Halo Studios is the Xbox-owned developer behind Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the original Halo campaign that launched to strong reviews. Despite that positive reception, the studio has let go of several staff, including a producer and a scrum master who had each worked there for years.
These cuts fit into a wider pattern of job losses across the games industry, and follow Microsoft's announcement last month that it would cut more than 3,200 jobs across its Xbox studios over the next couple of years. That makes Halo Studios' situation notable: successful, well-reviewed games are not necessarily protecting jobs at the companies that make them.
The story matters because Halo is one of Xbox's flagship franchises, and Microsoft is reportedly planning further remakes, including Halo 2. Readers may want to understand how a studio can be shedding staff while still investing in the series' future.
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Originally published by Polygon as “Xbox’s layoffs hit Halo Studios despite Campaign Evolved’s success”.