268 More Xbox Staff Lose Jobs, and What the Halo Handover Means for Game Developers

Xbox is cutting 268 more roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios and the division's management and central functions layer, and the next Halo game is leaving the studio that was built to make it. A new team at Activision will develop the next title, while a small crew at Halo Studios keeps supporting the games players already own. For game developers, the round is less about one number than about where the work now lives, which publisher is hiring, and what legal notice the affected staff are owed. At Metaintro we read studio memos like this one for the practical questions they leave open, so this piece covers the new studio map, the Washington notice rules and the places where game jobs are still being posted.

What Did Xbox Actually Cut This Time?

The memo from chief content officer Matt Booty went to Team Xbox employees globally and was published in full on the Xbox Wire news site. It names three groups affected by the 268 eliminated roles, which are Halo Studios, other first-party studios and the XGS management and central functions layer. It does not break the total down by studio, country or job type.

This is a new round, not a recount of the summer cuts. Microsoft trimmed fewer than 600 jobs globally on the same day, with about 300 of them in Washington state and some outside gaming in cloud, AI, marketing and research. Business Insider put the company-wide figure at around 500 employees, and the official memo itself gives only the gaming number.

The cuts sit inside a plan that is already public. Xbox committed in the summer to shed about 3,200 roles by the end of its fiscal year, roughly 20% of the division, and the latest Xbox figure counts toward that total rather than adding to it. Booty put progress at roughly three-quarters of the way through the restructuring once the studio divestitures are included. In other words the restructuring is not finished, which is worth knowing if you work anywhere in the division today.

For context on the first round, Microsoft cut 4,800 jobs globally in July, about 2% of its workforce. Our breakdown of the July Microsoft job cuts has the detail on the Xbox share of that round.

Who Is Making the Next Halo Game Now?

Activision will develop the next Halo title with a new, purpose-built team that is separate from ongoing development and plans for Call of Duty. Microsoft bought Activision in 2023 for $68.7 billion, and the move puts an Xbox franchise inside the acquired publisher alongside its own series.

Activision president Rob Kostich set the goal in a public statement, which is to make the greatest Halo game ever, worthy of its universe and legacy. He added that the company has already begun assembling a purpose-built team, unique in capability and talent. That wording matters to job seekers. A team that is still being assembled may be recruiting, so it is worth watching Activision's careers site.

Halo Studios does not close. A reduced group stays at the studio, formerly 343 Industries in Redmond, to support existing Halo games, the community and esports. The series has changed hands before. Bungie made the original, which launched in 2001 alongside the first Xbox, and Microsoft formed 343 Industries after Bungie left following Halo 3. The most recent release, a remake of the original, arrived in July.

The memo describes the next Halo as being built by a new, purpose-built team at Activision, and Activision says it has already begun assembling that team.

Which Other Studios Changed Hands?

The goal of the reorganisation is operating fewer business units and aligning groups that already work closely together. Here is where each studio now sits.

• Activision takes over World's Edge and Rare as well as the next Halo. World's Edge is the Redmond studio behind Age of Empires, and Rare is the English studio behind Sea of Thieves.
• Bethesda absorbs Obsidian, which keeps its current projects, including Grounded and the new Fallout project made with Bethesda Game Studios.
• King, the Candy Crush maker, takes over Microsoft Casual Games, the Redmond team behind Microsoft Solitaire and other titles bundled with Windows.
• Forza and Fable now sit with one team, as Playground and Turn 10 will come together as one studio after being creative and franchise partners for over a decade. Turn 10 is in Redmond and Playground is in England.

For a developer, a move like this can change more than the logo on a payslip. It can change who sets the budget, which internal tools and engines teams share, and which recruiters own the hiring. With Rare and World's Edge now under Activision's remit, check whether their future openings appear on Activision's careers site.

What Happens to Ninja Theory, Arkane and the Spun-Out Studios?

Microsoft moved to divest five studios in the summer, and their outcomes now split three ways.

Three have gone independent. Compulsion and Double Fine returned to their management in August with their IP, back catalogs, and runway funding, and Undead Labs has now left on similar terms. With a new publisher, Undead Labs will release State of Decay 3 day one on Game Pass, and the studio expects a closed beta by the end of the year. Independence came with job losses of its own. Undead Labs described it as saying goodbye to a significant number of our colleagues without giving a number.

Ninja Theory is the hardest case. Two separate agreements to sell the studio fell through, and Xbox will now begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while it keeps looking for other options. The studio is in Cambridge and made Hellblade, which won a Bafta.

Arkane, the studio based in Lyon, is still in consultation, which is expected to continue through the end of the year. French law required Xbox to go through that consultation before choosing to sell, spin out or close the studio.

What Are Ninja Theory Staff Owed Under UK Consultation Rules?

Because Ninja Theory is in England, UK redundancy law sets the floor for how the proposed closure has to run. If an employer is making 20 or more redundancies at the same time, collective consultation rules apply, and consultation takes place with a trade union rep or an elected employee rep.

The minimum lead time depends on scale. For 20 to 99 redundancies, consultation must start at least 30 days before any dismissals take effect, and for 100 or more it must start at least 45 days before. None of the pages linked here give Ninja Theory's headcount, so it is not yet clear which consultation rule applies.

Consultation is not a formality. It must cover ways to avoid redundancies, the reasons for them, how to keep dismissals to a minimum and how to limit the effects, for example by offering retraining. Affected employees can stand for election as a rep or vote for others, and a worker can take a claim to an employment tribunal if an employer starts late or does not consult at all. If you work at the studio, the consultation window is the time to ask about redeployment into Rare, Playground or another UK team inside the group.

What Does Washington's WARN Law Require for These Layoffs?

About 300 of the day's cuts fell in Washington, the home state of Halo Studios and several other Redmond teams. The state's version of the federal law is called Mass Layoffs and Business Closings, and the state requires written notice sixty days before a layoff to the Employment Security Department, the affected employees and the chief elected official of the community.

Under the state's current guidance, the law applies to a mass layoff, which the department defines as laying off 50 or more full-time workers during a 30-day period at a single site of employment. The notice has to list job titles in each job category, the expected layoff date and whether the cut is temporary or permanent. The state posts a public copy without employee information, which makes the notice one of the most useful documents a laid off developer can read. Where the job titles survive in that copy, they show which job families were hit, and therefore how many former colleagues may be competing with you for the same roles.

The penalties have teeth. The state expanded its version of the act as of July 27, 2025, with stricter penalties and coverage of more organizations. An employer that breaks the law may pay up to $500 for each day of the violation. It can avoid that penalty by paying, within 3 weeks of the layoff, back pay for each day of the violation up to 60 days, plus the value of the benefits workers lost. Workers who believe the law was broken can sue within 3 years of the alleged violation, or ask the department to investigate by emailing its layoff assistance team.

Washington requires notice sixty days before a layoff that meets its test, and the notice must list the job titles affected.

Where Can You See the Washington Filings for This Round?

The state keeps a public WARN layoff and closure database that shows the employer, the location, the date the layoff takes effect, the number of affected workers and a downloadable copy of each notice. You can also subscribe to get an email as soon as a new notice is published.

More detail on the Washington cuts, including the types of roles, is likely to emerge later through a notice filed with state officials. A Microsoft WARN filing reported by KOMO News shows what one looks like. It listed 493 positions in Redmond and 112 remote roles in the Puget Sound region, with cuts in early September.

Other Seattle area employers are shedding staff at the same time, which matters if you plan to stay local. Oracle eliminated 359 jobs in Washington the week before, and Zillow cut more than 500 in August.

What Support Is Microsoft Offering People Who Lose Their Jobs?

The memo for this round does not set out severance terms. A company spokesperson pointed to internal job search assistance for affected employees and stressed that the company continues to hire across the business. In a company blog post, chief people officer Amy Coleman wrote that Microsoft would provide financial support and resources to those affected, and said more than 4,000 employees had been redeployed.

Earlier this year the company also offered voluntary retirement for the first time, and about 30% of roughly 8,750 eligible U.S. employees took it. For the terms reported in the July round, see our breakdown of Microsoft's layoff payout scale. Treat that as a guide only, because the memo for this round gives no terms.

Where Are Game Studios Still Hiring?

The same company that is cutting is also hiring, just not in the same places. Microsoft brought on 850 university hires in August and had 1,300 interns over the summer, many of whom it works to convert into full-time roles.

Activision's own careers site is the clearest live signal. When we checked the day after the memo, its job search showed 95 results, with California carrying 41 of them, British Columbia 14, and Quebec and Wisconsin 13 each, against a single listing in Washington. By discipline, the same page listed 17 programming and software engineering roles, 9 in game and level design, 9 in production and 8 in art. Almost all were on-site, with 92 on-site and 3 remote.

Two details on that page are worth acting on. It states that new hire compensation is negotiable, so you should negotiate rather than accept the first number. It also carries a warning about a recent rise in recruitment scams, so apply through the official site rather than through a stranger's message promising a place on the Halo team.

What This Means for Game Developers, and What Should You Do Next?

The 268 roles count toward the about 3,200 announced in July, so the direction matters more than the single number. Xbox is consolidating its studios under fewer publishers, and Activision gains World's Edge, Rare and the next Halo. That makes Activision's hiring pipeline the most important one for anyone who built a career in Xbox first-party games. If you are a Halo Studios developer, the new Halo team is the natural place to aim, and franchise knowledge is something a newly assembled team may be short of.

Location is the catch. Activision's open roles cluster in California and Canada, with a single listing in Washington, so staying in the Seattle area may mean looking beyond games at the same time as other local employers are cutting. Decide early whether you would relocate, because that choice shapes every application.

Here is the practical order of work. First, watch the Washington database and read the notice for this round the day it appears, because the job titles tell you how crowded your field is about to get. Second, if you are at Ninja Theory, use the consultation window to press for redeployment inside the group. Third, if you have not had a notice yet, treat the memo as a warning that the reset is not finished, and update your portfolio and references now rather than after a notice arrives. For a wider view of how the industry is reshaping team sizes, our look at studios shrinking their teams is a useful companion, and the first Blizzard union contract shows what recall rights can look like inside the same group.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many jobs did Xbox cut in September?

A: Xbox is eliminating 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios and its management and central functions layer, part of a wider Microsoft round of fewer than 600 jobs globally.

Q: Is Halo Studios closing?

A: No. A small team at Halo Studios will keep supporting the Halo community and games in-market, while a new, purpose-built team at Activision develops the next Halo title.

Q: How much notice do Washington employers have to give before a mass layoff?

A: Washington requires written notice sixty days before a layoff of 50 or more full-time workers at a single site within 30 days, sent to the state, the affected employees and the local chief elected official.

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