Halo's Future Is Reportedly Being Handed to a New Team Built Inside Activision

Microsoft has reportedly taken Halo away from Halo Studios and handed its future to Activision, the company behind Call of Duty. According to what is being reported, the next major Halo game is being developed by a brand new, purpose built team operating under Activision, not 343, not Halo Studios, not Infinity Ward, not Treyarch or Sledgehammer, though as I put it, I don't think that, at least not officially. As I put it, that might simultaneously be the most terrifying and most hopeful Halo news I have ever gotten.

Microsoft also announced another massive restructuring of Xbox, and hundreds of people have reportedly lost their jobs. Halo Studios has reportedly been gutted, and whatever long term plan the studio had for Master Chief appears to have been scrapped. This is playing out against a backdrop where, as I noted, fans speaking up loudly enough seems to actually be forcing these companies to make changes.

Bungie's Destiny Apology and a Petition Aimed at Call of Duty's Matchmaking

The day before this news, the people behind Destiny reportedly came out and, as I described it, spent five minutes apologizing and grovelling for fans to come back, saying they lost their way with Marathon and are making more Destiny. I called it wild, and said it shows fans getting loud enough that companies have to listen.

Separately, Tog has reportedly started a petition directly aimed at Activision to remove skill based matchmaking and casual matchmaking from Call of Duty, keeping SBMM only in ranked play. I said it had a couple thousand signatures when I checked, and noted IGN had already covered it. My own read is that it is worth watching how far it goes, since, as I said, "They didn't have a poise. They got the point. They got backed into a corner. They had to listen," with Destiny, and now something similar is unfolding with Halo.

Halo Studios Loses Control as Microsoft Cuts 268 Positions

According to Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty, Microsoft is eliminating 268 positions across Halo Studios, other first party teams, and Xbox management. I said I do not know exactly how many of those cuts came directly from Halo Studios, but every report paints the same picture: the studio was hit hard.

Microsoft says a small team will remain behind to support the Halo community and maintain games already on the market, including Infinite and Campaign Evolved. As I put it, that is a small team, not a studio, and it is meant to maintain what exists rather than lead the next decade of Halo. Halo Studios may technically still exist, but in terms of controlling Halo's future, I said, it's over.

From 343 to Halo Studios, Another Reset Undone in Under Two Years

In 2024, 343 rebranded itself as Halo Studios and switched from the troubled Slipspace engine to Unreal Engine 5. The entire presentation was built around one message: Halo had finally learned from its mistakes, with a new name, new tech, and new development structure. Halo Studios went on to release Campaign Evolved, the remake of the original game.

Now, less than two years later, that beginning is apparently over. Microsoft has not officially announced a Halo 7, has not said any project was cancelled, and, as I noted, we never even received an official title for the next game. But if Halo Studios was developing multiple projects and Microsoft is now saying that is done, I don't know what we are doing. What is clear, in my view, is that Microsoft would not build a completely new Halo studio under Activision if it believed the previous structure was working, and I asked how many resets one franchise can get.

Why Activision's Production Machine Could Help, and Where It Could Go Wrong

Call of Duty has plenty of its own issues, from skill based matchmaking and annual releases to aggressive monetization and bundles that, as I put it, make military operators look like escape Fortnite characters. But Activision does know how to organize massive development projects across Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Sledgehammer, Beenox, Raven, and numerous support studios that contribute multiplayer content, cinematics, and animation.

In my assessment, Halo's problem has not always been a lack of content. It has been management, technology, decision making, contractor turnover, changing creative direction, and an inability to deliver a complete product on schedule. If Microsoft allows this new team to use Activision's production support without forcing Halo to become, as I said, "Call of Duty in space," it could work. That "if," I said, is carrying the entire Warthog here.

The obvious fear I raised is that Microsoft looks at Call of Duty's revenue and decides Halo needs to copy it. As I said, "Halo does not need a gunsmith with 87 nearly identical scopes. It does not need annual sequels. It does not need engagement optimized matchmaking deciding when I'm allowed to have fun." My view is that Halo needs large arena maps, vehicle combat, equal starts, powerful sandbox weapons, memorable campaign levels, four player co-op, Forge, Firefight, custom games, and split screen. "Halo needs to feel like Halo," as I put it.

What Remains Unknown About the New Studio, and Why Halo 7 Is Not Coming Soon

Microsoft reportedly claims this new Activision based Halo team will stay separate from Call of Duty development, will not affect the Call of Duty release schedule, and supposedly will not let Call of Duty bleed into Halo. In other words, this is not simply Treyarch being pulled off Call of Duty to build Halo between Zombies maps; it is supposed to be a dedicated studio with its own staff and leadership.

But Microsoft has not said what the studio is called, who is running it, how many developers it has, which former Halo employees are joining it, or how far development has progressed. I don't even think it is a fully staffed studio yet. Building a team, choosing leadership and direction, and creating a AAA Halo game is going to take years, so if anyone is expecting Halo 7 next year, that is not going to happen. Campaign Evolved may have been intended as a bridge toward Halo's next era, and now, in my view, it may be the only new Halo game released until 2030.

The Human Cost Behind the Reorganization, and What Comes Next

The biggest tragedy, as I see it, is what happened to all the developers caught in these resets. Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for 70 billion dollars and became one of the largest gaming companies on Earth, yet it has still spent years cutting jobs, closing studios, selling teams, and reorganizing the people who actually make the games. You cannot build creative stability, in my view, while constantly removing the people responsible for the creation.

Still, I raised the possibility that a properly funded Activision studio could give the franchise stable leadership. I also floated a hypothetical: imagine Microsoft walking into Infinity Ward and pulling it off Call of Duty for a couple of years to build Halo 7 instead, and wondered aloud what that game would even look like.

More broadly, I said this could be the final stage of Microsoft turning every major franchise it owns into content for one enormous machine, gradually reorganizing Xbox around the publishers it purchased, after spending nearly 25 years building Halo into the face of the brand. As I summed it up, the studio called Halo Studios is no longer making Halo games, and the company behind Call of Duty making Halo in 2026 "makes absolutely no sense."

So where is this all going?