Games industry cries foul on 343 and Halo layoffs as Microsoft continues to push for Activision deal

It’s been a hard couple of months for those working in the gaming and tech industries, with thousands of workers being laid off from some of the top companies in the country. One of the leaders in gaming, Microsoft has previously announced that it would be letting go of 10,000 people. However, it now appears that gaming studios like 343 Industries have been affected, much to the worry of players.

According to different reports, Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has been “hit hard” by the Microsoft layoffs. Many are attributing these layoffs to the lack of vision from the executives in the company, with industry professionals like Jedi Survivor‘s lead encounter designer Patrick Wren saying, “The layoffs at 343 shouldn’t have happened and Halo Infinite should be in a better state.”

Wren goes on to blame the higher-up leadership during the development causing a lot of undue stress on those who wanted the game to be great. He goes on to say that the devs who remain are still working hard and they should be left alone because they didn’t make the calls to let their fellow developers go.

Others have further said that while this isn’t great, many devs remaining at 343 Industries are saying that Halo isn’t going anywhere and they’re still working hard to make the dream come true. One screenshot from a developer shared by Halo YouTuber Mint Blitz says, “I get people are concerned right now, but this isn’t the end.”

Bloomberg gaming journalist Jason Schreier stated that previous issues he’s heard about from other developers, including that they weren’t given proper tools and had a “heavy reliance” on contractors.

One post on LinkedIn gives a further idea of what kind of people were cut, with the former director of art management Neill Harrison stating that his team lost around 30 people, himself included.

Hopefully, these people can find work in the industry at a company that will appreciate what they’re putting in. It’s worth noting that Microsoft cut 10,000 jobs while it tries to push through a $69 billion deal to purchase a company that a handful of financial regulators have objected to. One would think that a small fraction of that would be enough to keep on these workers.

Many are commenting on this, and rightfully so, as Microsoft likely won’t save the cost of the deal by firing the people it did. One would think that if it valued its employees more than its properties, it wouldn’t have favored the deal over the workers. With more and more gaming companies unionizing, this is likely to push more developers in that direction.