Activision Takes Over 3 Xbox Franchises as Microsoft Cuts 268 More Jobs
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Sep 22
Activision Takes Over 3 Xbox Franchises as Microsoft Cuts 268 More Jobs
3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Sep 22
Summary
Activision will develop the next Halo game and assume oversight of Halo, Sea of Thieves and Age of Empires in Microsoft’s latest Xbox studio overhaul.
268 Xbox roles are being eliminated across Halo Studios, other first-party teams and management as Microsoft says the reset is meant to consolidate business units and sharpen franchise publishing.
Halo Studios will shrink to a support team for existing games, World’s Edge and Rare staff will move under Activision, and Turn 10 and Playground Games will merge around Forza and Fable.
Bethesda is taking in Obsidian for a new Fallout project, while Microsoft said proposed plans to sell Ninja Theory fell through and it is now consulting on a possible closure.
Today’s cuts lift Xbox job losses this year to nearly 1,900, with Microsoft still expecting 3,200 roles to be affected by the end of its 2027 financial year.