Shortly after the launch of Halo: Campaign Evolved , a few developers shared on LinkedIn that they had been laid off, sparking fears of another round of layoffs at developer Halo Studios . The studio once known as 343 Industries came unscathed out of the latest round of mass Xbox layoffs , but that could change quickly, especially since the game's early reception hasn't been great.
However, GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi reported that there haven't been any internal job cuts and that those people were external contractors. The source said:
No layoffs have occurred at Halo Studios. There are often external contractor shifts that happen after a game ships. This is what people are noticing.
That's definitely good news, but it doesn't mean they won't happen later on. Xbox is already planning to remove another 1,600 employees throughout fiscal year 2027 , after all, and like I said, Halo: Campaign Evolved isn't exactly lighting up the sales charts.
According to Alinea Analytics, the Unreal Engine 5 remake of Halo: Combat Evolved barely made PlayStation's Top 10 chart in July with 351K units sold . Even with Steam (212K units) and Xbox + Xbox PC app (900K units), the game has not yet reached one and a half million units yet, despite relatively low competition.
Critics have rated the game an average of 82 out of 100, according to OpenCritic . Steam users are far more critical, though: their 8,375 user reviews are currently sitting at a disappointing 62% approval rate . The franchise's future is quite murky right now, especially after rumors suggest that all the new Halo projects in development were canceled . Even the other Halo remakes of the second and third installments are reportedly up in the air right now.
About the author : With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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