Activision Will Build the Next Halo as Xbox Cuts 268 Jobs
Matthew Leo · September 23, 2026 · Gaming
Microsoft is handing development of the next Halo game to a new team inside Activision as part of another major Xbox reorganization. The company is also cutting 268 jobs across Halo Studios, other first-party studios and Xbox management.
The changes were announced on September 22 in an internal message published on Xbox Wire. They come after a larger restructuring announced in July. Microsoft says the work completed since then, including studio sales, puts it about three-quarters of the way through that plan.
What Xbox changed
Activision is taking responsibility for Rare and World’s Edge, as well as the new Halo team. Microsoft says that team is separate from Call of Duty development. A smaller group at Halo Studios will continue supporting current Halo games and the community around them.
Elsewhere, Bethesda is adding Obsidian to its group. Obsidian will keep working on Grounded and a new Fallout project with Bethesda Game Studios. Playground Games and Turn 10 are being combined into one studio responsible for Forza and Fable. Microsoft’s casual-games group will move under King.
The company also confirmed that Compulsion Games, Double Fine and Undead Labs have left Microsoft under deals that give their management teams the studios, their intellectual property, back catalogues and operating funds. State of Decay 3 is still due to launch in Game Pass through a new publisher.
Ninja Theory faces a different outcome. Microsoft says two proposed deals fell through and it will begin consulting employees about closing the studio while it looks for other options. Consultation over Arkane is continuing through the end of 2026.
What this means for Halo
The immediate change is organizational, not a release announcement. Microsoft did not name the next Halo game, show footage or give it a date. It said only that Activision is assembling a purpose-built team to lead development.
That distinction matters. Activision has experience running large franchises and coordinating development across many teams, but Call of Duty’s production model is not automatically a fit for Halo. Players should watch who leads the project, how much continuity remains from Halo Studios and whether Microsoft describes the next release as a traditional campaign, an ongoing service or something else.
The move also leaves a much smaller Halo Studios team maintaining games already on the market. Microsoft has not explained how staffing is divided between current support and the new Activision-led project.
What players should watch next
Microsoft plans an all-Xbox employee meeting on October 6. That may provide more internal detail, but the public questions are straightforward: which studios keep creative control, what happens to announced games and how many jobs remain after consultation ends.
For now, the confirmed news is that Halo has a new development home, several familiar studios have new reporting lines and 268 more people are losing their jobs. The next game itself is still largely unannounced.
Sources
- Xbox: Continuing Our Reset, September 22, 2026
- The Game Business: Halo to Activision, September 22, 2026
Tags: Xbox, Halo, Activision, Microsoft Gaming, Gaming Industry