Halo Studios trims staff after Campaign Evolved launch amid troubled development

Halo Studios, the Xbox Game Studios unit behind Halo: Campaign Evolved, reportedly laid off several employees shortly after the game’s release amid claims the development was troubled and resource-heavy. Employees including producer Nick Treitman and Scrum Master Paul Morris confirmed cuts on LinkedIn. The report notes Campaign Evolved consumed more resources than planned, contributed to the cancellation of another Halo project, and involved a rebuild after outsourcing issues; Halo Studios also shifted to an Unreal Engine 5-based approach for future titles, with the Abstraction studio removed from the project. This comes as Microsoft is pursuing a broader wave of Xbox layoffs totaling around 3,200 roles, with about 1,600 already cut earlier this year.