Xbox Guts Halo Studios Days After Hyping Gears of War
Xbox spent the week teasing its biggest games in years, then turned around and cut 268 jobs at Halo Studios. Score another one for my side.
Xbox had a genuinely good week lined up, and then Xbox ruined it, which by now is basically the franchise's signature move.
Gears of War: E-Day is reportedly one of the most expensive games the platform has ever bankrolled, with a development cost said to run past $400 million, according to GamingBolt's rundown. That is a real investment, and credit where it belongs: a big-budget swing at a franchise fans actually love is the kind of thing I wish I saw more of from the green side. Concession made, and it hurt a little.
Then came the announcement nobody was hyping. Halo Studios, the outfit still trying to convince everyone it is more than 343 Industries wearing a new jacket, is cutting 268 roles. Xbox is calling them "eliminations," which is a hell of a word choice for a studio that just watched a director get promoted and fired inside 24 hours. Minecraft Dungeons 2 barely got a mention in the same breath, which tells you where the marketing dollars are actually going.
What's Xbox's next move here? Cuts.
Every time this platform builds momentum, it finds a way to step on its own press release, and Halo Studios is the one paying for it. Gears of War: E-Day deserved a launch week about the game. Instead it's sharing headlines with a spreadsheet.