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Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Candy Crush makers are losing jobs to AI they helped build: Report
King, the Microsoft-owned gaming studio behind the iconic Candy Crush franchise, is reportedly preparing to lay off more people and replace them with the same AI tools they developed. These job cuts are apparently happening in departments like level design and narrative writing. The news comes from which, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that the layoff will affect around 50 people, or half the team working on Farm Heroes Saga. 'Most of level design has been wiped, which is crazy since they've spent months building tools to craft levels quicker. Now those AI tools are basically replacing the teams. Similarly, the copywriting team is completely removing people since we now have AI tools that those individuals have been creating', one employee told the publication on the condition of anonymity. These employees worked from the company's offices in London, Stockholm, Berlin and Barcelona. As it turns out, they largely consist of mid-level management, UX, narrative copywriting, level design and user research staff. The report goes on to say that some of the game's leadership is being 'put on gardening leave', which means that they will have to stay away from the workplace, but will continue to receive salary and benefits. This is usually done to prevent employees from immediately joining a competitor and to prevent sensitive information from leaking. 'The fact AI tools are replacing people is absolutely disgusting. It's all about efficiency and profits even though the company is doing great overall. If we're introducing more feedback loops then it's crazy to remove the developer themselves, we need more hands and less leadership', added another employee. As it turns out, some centralised staff, like those working on research and QA, are also being removed, which means the total number of laid-off people may cross the 200 mark. Citing one staffer who was present in the meeting, the report suggests King's leadership allegedly wants to remove layers, stakeholders and other processes which might be slowing down development. Last year, King talked about how it is using AI tools to do its mundane tasks, giving its staff more time for creative thinking. Unsurprisingly, these AI layoffs are not limited to King. Earlier this month, a developer working for Halo developer 343 Industries reportedly told Engadget that they felt frustrated as they lost their job just hours after Xbox head Phil Spencer celebrated the division's profitability. To give you a quick recap, King Studios was previously owned by Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard and came under Microsoft's umbrella when the tech giant acquired Activision for $69 billion back in 2023.
Metro
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Halo remake may be single-player only as insider talks of 'a lot of tension'
New reports point to multiple Halo projects in development and a tense atmosphere, hampered by Microsoft management. The future of Halo, once an important franchise synonymous with the Xbox brand, has looked awfully murky ever since the launch and subsequent underperformance of 2021's Halo Infinite. As such, there appears to be a concerted effort to get the series back on track, with 343 Industries being rechristened as Halo Studios last year and announcing some important changes that will help define the next era of Halo games. Although nothing concrete is confirmed, multiple Halo projects are in the works, with a remake of the original Halo being a recurring rumour, but the behind the scenes situation is allegedly far less rosy than fans would've hoped. To assuage the lack of any official news, Halo insider Rebs Gaming (who previously reported on the cancelled plans for Halo Infinite) shared new claims about Halo Studios' future projects. First and foremost is the aforementioned Halo: Combat Evolved remake, which some believe Xbox boss Phil Spencer teased for next year when he mentioned 'the return of a classic that's been with us since the beginning' at the Xbox summer showcase. 2026 would be the perfect time for a Halo 1 re-release of some kind, since that year marks the 25th anniversary of both the Halo series and the Xbox brand as a whole. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Rebs Gaming claims that this is precisely the case, according to his own sources. He also says that the game could launch on PlayStation 5, which seems likely when other Xbox exclusives like Gears Of War are seeing releases on Sony's console. Curiously, Rebs Gaming's sources say they've not heard anything about the remake featuring multiplayer, suggesting it'll only contain the original campaign mode. This seems bizarre when multiplayer is one of Halo's most popular features, especially as the main campaign is only around 10 hours long. It's not uncommon for remasters and remakes to leave out the multiplayer mode though, even for something where it's a key component of the original, such as Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Other games, from Mass Effect to The Last Of Us have also omitted their multiplayer in later releases, although the upcoming Gears Of War: Reloaded will retain its. Aside from that, Rebs Gaming says an 'indirect sequel' to Halo Infinite, which he dubs Halo 7, is in the works, as well as a dedicated multiplayer game called Project Ekur. Apparently, Project Ekur is being built from the bones of the previously rumoured battle royale spin-off, Project Tatanka, though development is being handled by Certain Affinity, which has served as a support studio for the Halo series' multiplayer since Halo 2. While this might all sound quite exciting, especially since at least one of these projects is likely to be unveiled at the Halo World Championships this October, a separate report paints a rather bleaker picture of Halo Studios. In the wake of the latest round of Xbox layoffs, an anonymous developer at Halo Studios spoke with Endgadget, revealing that five of their co-workers had been let go and expressing rightful indignation over the email Phil Spencer sent out, boasting that the Xbox business was highly profitable – despite thousands of job losses. 'I'm personally super p****d that Phil's email to us bragged about how this was the most profitable year ever for Xbox in the same breath as pulling the lever. I wasn't sure what part of that I was supposed to be proud about,' said the developer. They also insisted that Microsoft is 'trying their damndest to replace as many jobs as they can with AI agents,' which is perfectly believable with how much Microsoft as a whole is investing in AI technology. However, these layoffs weren't a tipping point. Things have apparently been tense within Halo Studios for a long while, with one unidentified project said to have recently been in a state of crisis. 'I don't think anybody is really happy about the quality of the product right now,' the developer added. 'There's been a lot of tension and pep talks trying to rally folks to ship.' All this makes sense when you remember how tumultuous things were at Halo Studios in 2023. At the beginning of the year, the Halo Infinite campaign team was gutted as part of previous layoffs, with former employees blaming upper management for 'incompetent leadership.' Both franchise director Frank O'Connor and head of creative Joseph Staten also opted to leave Microsoft, continuing a worrying trend of high profile Halo exits. There was even chatter of Halo Studios no longer being allowed to make new games and being reduced to overseeing third party studios. While that hasn't happened, the studio was reportedly downsized in 2024, with the new plan being to outsource development to contracted studios. This is something Endgadget's report has corroborated. Although there's no mention of Halo Studios only working in a supervisory role, there has been a shift since 2023 towards contracting other studios to help speed up production on Halo projects. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Over 6,000 people have lost their jobs at Xbox in less than two years MORE: Xbox is being set up to fail by Microsoft bosses, claims insider MORE: Xbox Game Pass has been 'damaging the industry for a decade' says Arkane founder
Engadget
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Even before the Xbox layoffs, there was 'tension' at Halo Studios
At least five employees at Halo Studios have been fired as part of company-wide layoffs at Microsoft on Wednesday, according to a developer with knowledge of the situation. An estimated 200 to 300 people remain at the studio. Employees across Microsoft's Xbox division received an email from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer Wednesday morning addressing "organizational shifts" hitting the team over the coming days. Halo Studios employees who were laid off received an additional invite to a meeting with organization leaders, and two (very long) hours later, the Teams call began. Amid discussions of severance packages, the reasons provided for the firings aligned with Spencer's memo — to "increase agility and effectiveness." "I'm personally super pissed that Phil's email to us bragged about how this was the most profitable year ever for Xbox in the same breath as pulling the lever" on the layoffs, the developer told Engadget. "I wasn't sure what part of that I was supposed to be proud about." Halo Studios is currently working on multiple games, including the next mainline Halo installment, and it's the steward of Halo: Infinite , which is quietly spinning down its content cadence. The mood at the studio is tense, especially when it comes to one project that was recently in crisis, according to the developer. "I don't think anybody is really happy about the quality of the product right now," they said. "There's been a lot of tension and pep talks trying to rally folks to ship." The studio recently teased that it would reveal what it's been working on at this year's Halo World Championship in October. Halo Studios was rocked by layoffs in 2023, back when it was still called 343 Industries, and that culling mostly affected people on the campaign and narrative teams, including Halo veteran Joe Staten. (This is also the reason Halo: Infinite hasn't had a continuing storyline since that time period). Today, Halo Studios employs a blend of full-time employees and contractors, with junior producers and quality assurance roles generally contracted out. 343 Industries came under fire from fans for the launch state of Halo: Infinite , and over the years several ex-employees have spoken out about the studio's reliance on contractors, who typically work with the company for a maximum of 18 months. The employee I spoke with said that, since 2023, there's been a general shift toward working with contracted studios — rather than individual contractors — in the United States and Europe to speed up Halo production. This mirrors the way other major FPS franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield are developed. "Xbox in general feels years behind the curve in game development, and it leads to a lot of wasted time and effort," the employee said. At the same time, multiple departing team members have spoken warmly about their time at Halo Studios and the people they worked with. The layoffs at Microsoft on July 2 affected 9,000 employees globally, including 830 in Washington, where Halo Studios is based. The Xbox division endured significant firings, game cancellations and studio closures. A Microsoft spokesperson said the Xbox team did not absorb the majority of the layoffs, but given its relatively small size in the organization, that framing may not accurately reflect the impact. Under the Xbox banner, Rare's Everwild and The Initiative's Perfect Dark reboot were cancelled, and The Initiative was fully shut down. Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios reportedly lost a "vast majority" of its employees, and Rare, ZeniMax Online Studios, King, Raven, Sledgehammer Games and Halo Studios have all reportedly been affected. ZeniMax president Matt Firor is out after 18 years leading the studio, and it's being reported that veteran Rare designer Gregg Mayles is also gone after decades with his team. And to top it all off, Blizzard is sunsetting Warcraft Rumble . Microsoft has increasingly focused on AI, a shift that's propelled its stock price to new highs. At Meta's Llamacon in April, CEO Satya Nadella said that as much as 30 percent of the company's code is now written by AI. Activision in February admitted to using AI in Black Ops 6 . It's unclear how much AI has to do with this latest round of layoffs, but use of Copilot is "no longer optional" within Microsoft. The developer I spoke with said, "They're trying their damndest to replace as many jobs as they can with AI agents." News about specific Xbox teams popped up throughout the day as employees shared their experiences on social media and spoke with various publications. Microsoft laid off 1,900 Xbox employees in January 2024 and 650 more in September, and last year it closed Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games and Tango Gameworks (the latter of which was acquired by Krafton). Microsoft reported a net revenue of $25.8 billion in the first three months of 2025, with an eight percent yearly increase in revenue from Xbox content and services. Microsoft told Engadget that the layoffs will affect less than four percent of the company's global workforce. A statement from a Microsoft spokesperson reads as follows: "We continue to implement organizational and workforce changes that are necessary to position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace." If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
Digital Trends
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Halo desperately needs to be rebooted
2026 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Halo franchise, a milestone very few franchises hit without some major stumbles along the way. Halo is no exception here. The original title was the definition of a system seller for the original Xbox, and was a massive leap in proving that FPS games could work on consoles. Halo 2 set the bar for online play, and Halo 3 pushed things further with Forge and comprehensive gameplay recording and sharing. From a narrative perspective, the first three games appealed to the more casual fan who just wanted some aliens to shoot or to jump into some online deathmatches while also hinting at a deep well of mysteries in the wider universe. Between the current state of the narrative and the declining relevance the series has been experiencing with controversial and lackluster releases since changing hands from Bungie to 343 Industries (now Halo Studios), Halo is carrying too much baggage. A reboot would give this series a fresh start and a chance to reclaim its former glory. Recommended Videos Back to basics Besides the solid gunplay, addictive multiplayer, and striking visual identity, Halo was tied together by a simple but compelling narrative of a super soldier fighting against a covenant of religious aliens bent on humanity's extinction. Master Chief was all but a complete self-insert for the player, speaking in short but direct bursts when called for, while leaving the narrative heavy lifting to characters like Cortana. For the first three games, the plot itself was always straightforward enough: survive and escape Halo, stop the Covenant from activating Halo, and don't let the Flood escape. At least, it was a simple story on the surface. Halo's early games were so strong because they gave the player specific and understandable goals, but left breadcrumbs about so much more to be curious about. What really are the Halos? Who made them and why? Where did the Flood come from? It made sense that most of those big mysteries would be unanswered in the Chief's never-ending fight, which opened the door for other media to expand the universe. I have no issue with supplemental media exploring parts of a game's world and lore that wouldn't fit nicely into the games themselves. That's how the Halo novels began, detailing things like how Spartan IIs like Master Chief were made and the first battles between humanity and the Covenant, but it wasn't long before the novels were integrating themselves directly into the games' canon. Once the books and comics start filling in the gaps of what happened between games, introducing new plot elements that would impact future games, and even detailing the fate of important characters, people like me who only focused on the games start to feel alienated. It doesn't feel good to jump from Halo 4 to 5 and realize the game is expecting me to have read a couple of novels and comics to understand what's going on. That was what pushed me away from the series after 4, and seeing the news of the newest novel being a direct sequel to Halo Infinite, I know there's no way I can reinvest myself in the story. When playing all the Halo games in order isn't enough to give me all I need to understand what's going on, something has gone terribly wrong. There's nothing wrong with telling new stories in the Halo universe through comics, spinoffs, books, and TV shows, but not at the cost of approachability. It also puts Halo Studios in a corner creatively. It is forced to adhere to decades worth of lore, most of it created by other teams. I view the decision to change from 343 Industries to Halo Studios as an attempt to give this entire Halo experiment a fresh start — to shed away all the bloat and baggage that has come before. In line with that, I want Halo to go back to square one. Reboot the series back to only the most essential elements built on rock-solid FPS gameplay. Halo Studios has announced that it will be sharing information on what it is working on next at the HaloWC 2025 this October, and it is heavily rumored to be a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved. I understand the safety in a remake, but it doesn't solve the core problem the series is suffering from. It can be called a remake to capitalize on the nostalgia and goodwill the original still has, but I hope the game subverts those expectations. Don't take the time to go back to the start only to go down the same path. I know reboots can be a dirty word at times, but the tangled mess that is the Halo lore is precisely when a reboot is called for.
Metro
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Halo team promises ‘official scoop' on series' future later this year
Amid rumours of a PS5 remake of the first Halo, a major announcement is set to be made in just a few months time. Last year, 343 Industries announced big changes were in store for the studio and the Halo series. For starters, the developer underwent a rebranding and is now called Halo Studios, dispelling rumours it was being kicked off the series. It also confirmed that more than one new Halo video game is currently in development, though there's still no official word on what any of them are. However, the team did show test footage of how future games will look in Unreal Engine 5, as the developer finally replaces the aging Slipspace Engine used in Halo Infinite. Anyone who hoped for a big reveal at last month's Xbox showcase was no doubt disappointed by the complete lack of Halo news, but that seems to be because it's being saved for the Halo World Championship esports event later this year. In a new blog post about the event, Halo Studios references how it used last year's event to detail the aforementioned behind-the-scenes changes and its plans for multiple games. As such, it intends to share the 'official scoop on what Halo Studios has been working on', so as to convince more people to attend the event live in Seattle, Washington, which is scheduled to run on the weekend of October 24. The blog acknowledges the 'fair amount of speculation about when and where more details might emerge about any of the multiple projects Halo Studios is actively working on,' but stops short of discussing any specific rumours. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. While we wouldn't be surprised if Halo Studios is teasing something more innocuous, the obvious assumption (and the one we're sure many fans will make) is that it's planning to properly show off one of the new Halo projects. No official details on any future Halo games have been shared yet, but a common rumour is that a new remake of the very first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, is in the works. Such a project could also see the series make its debut on PlayStation 5, thanks to Microsoft's new approach to releasing its exclusives on other platforms. Another of Halo Studios' possible projects is a new mainline game to follow on from Halo Infinite. Earlier this year, a March report detailed the long-term plans for Halo Infinite's post-launch period and how those plans were ultimately scrapped. It's possible some of those ideas are being reworked for a sequel, but Halo Studios could also have opted to start from scratch. Either way, the goal of supporting Halo Infinite for 10 years isn't happening, at least not to the degree the studio and Microsoft originally had in mind. More Trending While Halo Infinite is a solid game, its post-launch suffered from long delays, abandoned content, and behind the scenes mismanagement. The multiplayer was never abandoned though, and has still seen updates and manages to regularly attract a few thousand players on Steam. However, it's evident that Halo is no longer as significant to the Xbox brand as it was during the heyday of the original trilogy, which was handled by the now Sony owned Bungie. Nevertheless, the changes within Halo Studios suggest there's a concerted effort to revitalise the series, especially with it being described as the 'next chapter.' And while some diehard Xbox enthusiasts will balk at the idea of Halo on PlayStation (or Switch 2), it would certainly help reach a new audience, especially if the series really does go back to basics with a new version of the first game. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Halo on PS5 now more likely thanks to Unreal Engine 5 claim multiple sources MORE: Halo and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth coming to Switch 2 claims insider MORE: Xbox to be hit by fourth wave of layoffs in 18 months says report
