After Massive Microsoft Layoff How Will the Halo Franchise Save Itself?

Halo fans have found themselves in troubled waters after ‘Microsoft-343 industries’ got hit by the worst storm.

The past week has been mayhem for the tech world as it saw a massive layoff of employees. Top companies like Microsoft and Google had to let go of a part of their workforce amid cutbacks. This put people in a difficult position after the pandemic, as the world seemed on the verge of recovering from the major blow. However, the layoff proved negative, posing that there’s still a long way to go. 

Amidst that, the gaming industry also paid condolences as they saw the fall of a Titan. After all, it was their ‘childhood favorite’ game, and now, they wouldn’t get any more of it. Mainly because its lead employees either walked out or joined a different organization, leading them to question the future of Halo. 

Can Microsoft turn things around for Halo and 343 Industries?

In 2001, Bungie stunned the gaming world as they gave birth to Halo. It was one of the best FPS games of its time, bagging a ‘millionaire’ fanbase. Plus, Master Chief instantly became a fan-favorite, as users reserved it in the ‘iconic’ section. And as time passed, the fans grew fonder rooting for the franchise to release more games. 

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But then, years later, Bungie handed over the franchise to 343 Industries, who successfully ran the empire. I mean, we saw games like Halo: Wars and Halo: Infinite – the recent favorite. However, Infinite lost its hype months after release as the user base expected far more.

For instance, the game’s battle pass, storyline, and multiplayer mode barely changed, and the devs had hyped it too much. So, as time passed, the game saw its downfall, with users quitting for good. And now, with the recent Microsoft layoff, 343 Industries is hit with one of the biggest storms as a majority of employees walked out.

Two of them being the main guys, Patrick Wren and Joe Staten. For those uninitiated, Joe was a veteran Halo protege who was invited to make Halo Infinite a hit but decided to walk back to Microsoft recently. Apart from that, Patrick was a senior designer who moved on to Respawn Entertainment.

Surprisingly, he even made statements regarding the serious issue, blaming the management instead of the employees. After all, he penned down how well they managed ‘Forge,’ the heart of Halo, so it was the management who couldn’t keep them intact.

And now, with the layoffs and the main guys walking out, the question has popped up whether Halo will continue to function. I mean, Microsoft is already on the verge of confirming the Activision deal, and they even have Starfield and Diablo on the line. So, the real question is; is this the end for Halo or will Microsoft give 343 Industries a last try?

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