Halo Studios has been gutted. After the round of Xbox layoffs on September 22, 2026, the team long synonymous with the franchise has reportedly shrunk to a tiny support crew, while control of the next mainline Halo shifts to Activision. The scale of the cuts, paired with the loss of the franchise itself, leaves the studio’s future very much in doubt.
Quick answer: Halo Studios is reported to have roughly 20 developers left after the cuts. That specific figure comes from a pro-player source and is unverified, but it lines up with reporting that the studio faced layoffs numbering in the hundreds.
What’s confirmed and what’s a claim
Two things are firmly established. Xbox eliminated 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party teams, and its studios management layer, and the next mainline Halo game is being handed to a new Activision team. Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty laid this out in a memo titled “Continuing Our Reset,” which also confirmed that Halo Studios would stay open with a “small team” to support the community and existing games. You can read the full statement on the official Xbox news post.
The qualification applies to the reported figure of 20 developers. Professional Halo player aPureGangster attributed that number to “a very, very reputable source,” but no independent confirmation exists. It does, however, align with previous reports that Halo Studios was considering cuts affecting hundreds of positions. Xbox has not released a breakdown showing how the 268 roles were distributed among studios.
- Confirmed: 268 roles cut across Halo Studios and other Xbox teams on September 22, 2026.
- Confirmed: the next mainline Halo moves to a new Activision team.
- Confirmed: Halo Studios remains open as a small support team.
- Unverified claim: roughly 20 developers remain at Halo Studios.
- Reported: the entire Halo Championship Series (HCS) team is gone.
Halo Studios’ new role: live support only
Halo Studios is not closing, but its scope has been slashed. The remaining team is set to maintain and support Halo’s live titles rather than build new mainline entries. In practice that means keeping the lights on for games already out, including this year’s Halo: Campaign Evolved and 2021’s Halo Infinite.
That is a steep demotion for a team that was, until this summer, Xbox’s flagship first-party shooter developer. The studio is the current form of 343 Industries, which took Halo over from Bungie in 2007 and produced every mainline release since Halo 4. Handing the next game to Activision marks the first time the franchise’s dedicated internal studio will not lead a new mainline title.
Activision now leads the next Halo game
A new team for the next Halo project will be created by Activision, the Call of Duty publisher that joined Microsoft’s gaming division when the Activision Blizzard King deal closed in October 2023. Xbox’s memo says this group will not be part of the studios presently handling Call of Duty, pointing to a separate unit instead of reassigned Call of Duty employees.
Halo: Campaign Evolved, released July 28, 2026, brought Master Chief to PlayStation for the first time. Alongside Halo Infinite, its reception fell short of the franchise’s earlier peak, which frames the pressure now sitting on whoever builds the next entry.
The wider Xbox reset around Halo
The Halo cuts were part of a broader reorganization that touched several Xbox studios in the same sweep. Microsoft described the restructuring as roughly three-quarters complete, so further changes are expected.
| Studio / team | What changed |
|---|---|
| Halo Studios | Reduced to a small support team; next Halo moved to Activision |
| Obsidian Entertainment | Placed under Bethesda Softworks management |
| Ninja Theory | Entered consultation; status unresolved, closure possible |
| Rare and World’s Edge | Moved under Activision’s structure |
The situation is still moving. Many former Halo staff have confirmed their departures publicly, including one director who was promoted and then laid off within the same week, and precise headcounts may take time to settle.
For now, the picture is clear even if the exact numbers are not: the studio built around Halo has lost both the franchise and most of its people, and the next chapter of the series will be shaped by a different team entirely.