Former Halo Infinite developers have called out Microsoft's leadership following the recent announcement of huge layoffs at the company. For those unfamiliar with the situation, on January 18, Microsoft announced the elimination of 10,000 jobs from the company by the end of the 2023 fiscal year. These job cuts reportedly include Microsoft's gaming division as well, so employees of the Xbox division, 343 Industries, and Bethesda are also said to be part of these layoffs.Microsoft started to expand its influence in the video game industry by purchasing multiple studios and publishers during the 2010s. After its purchase of Obsidian Entertainment and Ninja Theory in 2018, the acquisitions accelerated further with the addition of ZeniMax Media in 2020 and then the highly publicized move to obtain Activision Blizzard in early 2021. Now it seems like at least some of the repercussions of these substantial investments may be beginning to take effect.These developments were followed by an announcement of restructuring at 343 Industries, which is responsible for the development of Halo Infinite. Now, many former 343 Industries employees have taken to social media to express their frustrations and blame Microsoft layoffs for all of Halo Infinite's problems. Former Halo Infinite senior multiplayer designer Patrick Wren tweeted his belief that the layoffs at 343 Industries and the current state of Halo Infinite should never have taken place, and he attributed this to ineffective leadership at the helm of the game's development which created an excessive amount of stress on the team striving to make the title the best it can be.
Tyler Owens, another former Halo developer, tweeted out his grievances towards Microsoft and its practices, noting that it is slowly causing the death of the beloved Halo Infinite series. Owens accused Microsoft of ruthless contracting policies designed to maximize tax incentives, and layoffs being handed out despite huge profits and executive bonuses, Owens believes that Microsoft has ultimately put the Halo series in a position to fail.
There's no denying that these advances are likely to create apprehensions for both gamers and the gaming industry. It is essential to keep in mind that Microsoft is an enormous organization, with a workforce of over 220,000 individuals worldwide, and that even if it decided to reduce 5 percent of that amount, it will have planned a system for carrying on with the game development and other operations.
Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.