Xbox Moves Halo to Activision as 268 More Jobs Are Cut

Microsoft is transferring responsibility for the next major Halo title to a purpose-built team within Activision, one of the clearest signs yet of how deeply it's reshaping its gaming operation.

Rare, the studio behind Sea of Thieves, and World’s Edge, which oversees Age of Empires, will also move under Activision’s leadership. A smaller team will remain at Halo Studios to support existing games and the franchise’s player community.

The reorganisation includes the loss of another 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party developers and Xbox Game Studios’ central management functions. This follows 1,600 job cuts announced in July and forms part of a wider programme expected to remove approximately 3,200 positions during Microsoft’s current financial year.

The future of Cambridge-based Ninja Theory is particularly uncertain. Microsoft has reportedly begun consultation over the studio’s proposed closure after attempts to find a buyer were unsuccessful. The developer is best known for the critically acclaimed Hellblade series.

Other changes include Obsidian moving under Bethesda, Playground Games merging with Turn 10, and Microsoft bringing its casual gaming operations together under King.

For Microsoft, the restructure aims to simplify its studio organisation, reduce management layers, and place major franchises under fewer operating groups.

For the industry, however, it raises a more uncomfortable question: when consolidation reaches this scale, does it strengthen creative franchises—or gradually remove the studios and identities that made them valuable in the first place?

Credit: Original reporting by Jon Hicks, Editorial Director at GamesIndustry.biz