Microsoft is handing development of the next Halo game to Activision, even as it lays off more staff at the studio that just remade the original.
Microsoft has tasked Activision with building the next mainline Halo title. The move comes as Microsoft continues cutting jobs at Halo Studios, the team formerly known as 343 Industries and the developer behind Halo's recent remake. Activision, now part of Microsoft's Xbox division following its acquisition, is best known for Call of Duty, not Halo. Shifting the franchise to a different internal studio while trimming the team that has stewarded it for years is an unusual reshuffle even by Xbox's recent standards.
Why it matters: handing a flagship franchise to a studio built around a rival shooter shows how thoroughly Microsoft has merged Activision into Xbox's day-to-day operations. It also suggests Xbox is treating its studios less as distinct creative houses and more as an interchangeable talent pool, reassigned project to project as layoffs continue.
Halo has weathered messier creative transitions before. Whether it fares as well when the studio meant to protect it keeps shrinking is a different story.