Ex-Halo Infinite Devs Criticize Microsoft’s Leadership Amid Critical Layoffs

The inception of the plague brought a slew of prosperity to the tech giants, including Microsoft and Amazon, causing them to hire employees in huge amounts. A wave of layoffs has begun affecting the industry now following issues like the global recession, and Microsoft is reportedly firing over 5 percent of its workforce.

The game studios under Microsoft have also already started to feel the impacts of the layoff, and many developers have raised their voices against the giant conglomerate. A recent Bloomberg report suggests that Bethesda Games Studios, Gears of War developer The Coalition, and Halo maker 343 Industries are all affected.

The scope of the layoffs affecting the game studios is not yet known. However, 343 Industries was seemingly “hit hard,” as reported by Jason Schreier on Twitter. Jason elaborates that today’s 343 layoffs arrive “in the wake of a long-running hiring freeze and a lot of contractor departures.” 

The ex-Halo developers took to Twitter to criticize the leadership of Microsoft, calling it “incompetent leadership.” Patrick Wren, Halo Infinite‘s former senior multiplayer designer, was one such figure. Now hired at Respawn to craft the next-gen Jedi Survivor, Patrick criticized the current state of the latest Halo entry.

The layoffs at 343 shouldn’t have happened and Halo Infinite should be in a better state. The reason for both of those things is incompetent leadership up top during Halo Infinite development causing massive stress on those working hard to make Halo the best it can be,” wrote Patrick on Twitter.

Despite the criticism, the developer noted in another tweet, “I do want to make sure that I call out how amazing the Multiplayer Leadership team was during development.”

Former Halo 5: Guardians developer and current Apex Legends developer at Respawn, Tyler Owens, also conveyed his disdain on Twitter. The developer noted his tiredness regarding Microsoft’s business practices and policies that are “abused.”

Tyler cited that Microsoft is slowly killing the IP he loves, clarifying the gigantic conglomerate’s “abuse for tax incentives & layoffs in the face of gigantic profits/executive bonuses” is setting Halo up for eventual failure.

As a Halo fan I'm really tired of Microsoft business practices & policies slowly killing the thing I love

between the contracting policies they abuse for tax incentives & layoffs in the face of gigantic profits/executive bonuses… they set Halo up for failure

— Tyler Owens (@heytred) January 18, 2023

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has accused global recession and changing customer spending for the reason of layoffs and reducing the workforce. 

We saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less. We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one,” noted Satya Nadella in a public statement.

343 Industries had already been losing several influential figures, which has damaged the condition of Halo Infinite. Previously, Halo Infinite Lead Designer Andrew Witts left the company, and Bonnie Ross, the former head of 343 Industries, also left the studio. 

We could see Halo Infinite fall in worse times as the company restructures to adjust and compensate for the losses. Microsoft has yet not officially addressed the criticism by the ex-Halo employees.

What are your thoughts about the developers criticizing Microsoft for the current state of Halo Infinite? Do you think the layoff will further damage the Halo IP? Do let us know your opinions in the comments below.

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