Disappointing sales of Halo: Campaign Evolved lead to layoffs at Halo Studios

A wave of layoffs has hit Halo Studios, the Xbox Game Studios developer formerly known as 343 Industries, about a week after the public release of *Halo: Campaign Evolved*. Several employees announced their resignations on August 5, 2026.

The measure comes in the wake of a report from Alinea Analytics released in July, revealing that *Halo: Campaign Evolved* sold just 900,000 units on the Xbox Series and Windows platforms, 425,000 on PlayStation 5, and 212,000 on Steam. In total, there were 1.537 million copies, a number that was below the sales of titles such as *Palworld*, *Minecraft* and *Grand Theft Auto 5* on PS5, indicating a lukewarm commercial reception for the new version.

The *Halo: Campaign Evolved* review received mixed opinions across all platforms. While the layoffs have not been formally linked to the remake’s financial performance, the link between the weak sales, mixed reception and Microsoft’s decision to make cuts is strong, especially considering that the company had already laid off 1,600 employees in early July as part of a broader restructuring strategy.

Details on recent layoffs at Halo Studios

On the LinkedIn platform, several employees of Halo Studios, the company responsible for the franchise, publicly confirmed that they were fired after *Halo: Campaign Evolved* arrived on the market.

• Paul Morris, who has served as Scrum Master at Halo Studios since 2024, working on *Halo Infinite* and *Halo: Campaign Evolved*. He was also a Test Associate on previous titles such as *Halo 2*, *Halo 3*, *Halo 3: ODST*, *Halo Wars* and *Halo: Reach*.
• Nick Treitman, who served as Playtest Coordinator, Associate Producer and Producer at Halo Studios as of 2020. Prior to that, he was Playtest Moderator at Monolith Productions in 2016 and Associate Game Tester at Nintendo between 2014 and 2015.
• Caleb Lawrence, Software Engineer on *Halo Infinite* and *Halo: Campaign Evolved* since 2022, with previous experience as an Application Engineer at HCA Healthcare.

Uncertainty remains about the full extent of the layoffs at Halo Studios. However, considering Microsoft’s plan to eliminate 4,800 jobs by the end of fiscal year 2027, 3,200 of which in the Xbox division alone, it is plausible that these recent cuts are in line with the company’s downsizing strategy or are a direct consequence of the unsatisfactory performance of *Halo: Campaign Evolved*.

Halo Studios has already faced waves of layoffs in previous years, including 2025 and 2023, which indicates a pattern of recurring cuts at Microsoft. In mid-2025, the Halo Studios team already had just a few hundred employees, showing a progressive reduction in its workforce.

What to expect from the future of Halo Studios

Recently, the cancellation of the next *Halo* multiplayer project, titled *Project Ekur*, came to light, attributed to the troubled development of *Halo: Campaign Evolved*. However, rumors are emerging indicating that Halo Studios’ future ventures could be remakes of *Halo 2* and *Halo 3*, in addition to a new game focused on ODST.

Considering the various clues within *Halo: Campaign Evolved* that point to the creation of a remake of *Halo 2*, this could be the next big project from Halo Studios. However, its availability for PlayStation platforms is uncertain, given the low sales performance of *Halo: Campaign Evolved* and *Gears of War: Reloaded*, and the absence of *Gears of War: E-Day* on PS5, suggesting a possible intensified exclusivity strategy.

According to information released by Rebs Gaming, Halo Studios had inadequately managed the development of *Halo: Campaign Evolved*. The project, initially led by external companies Abstraction and Virtuos under an “aggressive” schedule set by Halo Studios, had its contract terminated by the developer mid-process, forcing the internal team to hastily redo much of the work before launch.

Due to this complex history, the difficulty in porting assets to Unreal Engine 5, recent layoffs and alleged failures in leadership, Halo Studios or Microsoft may choose to hire external developers again for *Halo 2* remakes and other projects in the franchise.

On the other hand, Halo Studios could fully take over the development of the remakes of *Halo 2* and *Halo 3*, due to the problems faced in the collaboration with Abstraction. This approach, however, could result in rushed projects, with gameplay similar to *Halo: Campaign Evolved* and without multiplayer features, aimed at launching in conjunction with *Project Helix*.