Who’s making the next games
For players following Halo, the biggest change is a new development team. Activision will develop the next title through a team built specifically for the project, separate from ongoing Call of Duty development and plans. That establishes who will take on the next game, while support for existing titles remains a separate responsibility.
Obsidian will continue its projects, including Grounded and a new Fallout project in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios. Meanwhile, Playground and Turn 10 will merge into one studio focused on Forza and Fable. The two franchises will therefore share a single studio structure.
From a player’s perspective, this division of work is what matters most: who is making the next game, and who is looking after the one we already keep coming back to. A change in organization alone does not tell us what the games will be like to play.
Support and Game Pass remain in the plans
A small team at Halo Studios will continue supporting the Halo community and games already on the market. For existing players, this is an important part of the reorganization: plans for the next title sit alongside continued support for released games.
Undead Labs will release State of Decay 3 with a new publisher, and the game will be available through a Game Pass subscription from day one. Access this way requires a subscription; inclusion in the service does not mean free, permanent ownership of the game.
A new division of responsibilities
The changes also affect the wider studio organization. Bethesda is expanding its oversight to include Obsidian, Activision will oversee World’s Edge and Rare, and King will also take responsibility for Microsoft Casual Games. This is the management structure under which those teams will continue their work.
Another part of the reorganization concerns studios leaving their previous structure. Compulsion and Double Fine returned to their management teams in August, along with their intellectual property, back catalogs and funding to keep operating. Undead Labs has completed a transition on similar terms, so its agreement involves a broader change than simply bringing in a new publisher for State of Decay 3.
Job cuts and uncertainty for staff
Xbox is cutting 268 jobs across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the management and central functions of Xbox Game Studios. The reshuffling of responsibilities therefore comes with real job losses.
Two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through. Consultation with employees on a proposed closure will now begin, while other options continue to be explored. Closure is therefore a proposal, and a final decision has not yet been confirmed.
Separately, consultation with Arkane is already underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year. Its outcome remains open, so this process should be clearly distinguished from the studio mergers and transitions that have already been confirmed.