It\u2019s been some time since the Halo series switched hands. The final Halo game developed by Bungie was Halo: Reach in 2010, and Halo Studios has helmed the project ever since, up to and including the studio\u2019s now-final release, Halo: Campaign Evolved<\/a>, which received critical acclaim<\/a> upon its launch earlier in 2026.<\/p>\n It also isn\u2019t the first time Activision has assisted in a property that Bungie originally made. The two studios famously worked on Bungie\u2019s Destiny franchise from 2010 until a rather messy public <\/a>split\u00a0in 2019, before Activision was\u00a0acquired by Microsoft in 2022. Activision helped develop Bungie by bringing in external studios like Vicarious Visions and High Moon Studios to support PC and accelerate the development of new content.<\/p>\n This current \u201creset\u201d marks a complete pivot in Xbox\u2019s strategy and is part of Microsoft\u2019s cost-cutting restructuring efforts<\/a>, which the company began after Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said the business \u201cis not healthy.\u201d In July, the company announced 3,200 layoffs over the next year due to a struggling business and stagnant growth in Game Pass.<\/p>\n The end of an era<\/p>\n Activision is now the developer of Xbox\u2019s two biggest FPS franchises, Call of Duty and Halo, a reality that no one playing either franchise in 2009 would\u2019ve believed if you\u2019d told them back then. The two games shared a rather intense rivalry during the 2000s that has softened over time, with Battlefield largely replacing Halo in the broader gaming lexicon as Call of Duty\u2019s biggest rival.<\/p>\n \u201cThis feels like the end of an era,\u201d said CNET senior writer Zachary McAuliffe. \u201cHalo is a franchise that is largely synonymous with Xbox as a brand, so Microsoft handing the franchise to Activision feels like the company cutting off its nose to spite its face. It\u2019s ironic because Call of Duty, Activision\u2019s largest franchise, was Halo\u2019s main gaming rivalry. Now that Activision controls Halo, it feels like Call of Duty won that rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n McAuliffe also points out that with Activision in control, it may subject Halo to some Activision habits, like annualized releases much like we see with Call of Duty games, and with a story-focused game like Halo, that may stifle creativity and cause the games to \u201cfeel flat.\u201d A future like that would almost certainly cause Halo to lose its identity and become just a Call of Duty clone set in space.\u00a0<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t any details about the next Halo game yet, except that it\u2019ll be made by Activision.<\/p>\n The big Xbox restructure continues<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s move is likely to be a massive deal in the gaming world because it outlines a radical, fundamental restructuring of Xbox\u2019s first-party studios, including drastic changes to some of the most iconic franchises and developers in the industry.<\/p>\n Activision is also taking control of World\u2019s Edge and Rare, developers of Age of Empires and Sea of Thieves, respectively. Bethesda is taking Obsidian under its wing, the developer of the next Fallout game. Candy Crush developer King is taking control of Microsoft Casual Games to combine the casual games segment under one roof. Finally, Playground and Turn 10 are being merged into a single studio, combining Forza and Fable under one roof.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the announcement<\/a>, Double Fine, Compulsion and Undead Labs have returned to being independent studios. Ninja Theory had two agreements fall through and is now being closed down for good, with its final release, Senua, still slated for 2027.<\/p>\n With these changes, Microsoft\u2019s restructuring efforts aren\u2019t yet over. \u201cThe actions completed since July, inclusive of the studio divestitures, bring us roughly three-quarters of the way through previously announced restructuring,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoe is a freelance journalist. It all started with a long-running affection for building his own PCs, which he did for the first time as a teenager. It evolved into a lifelong enjoyment of putting words on the internet about the subject. He’s written for CNET, PCMag, Mashable and SlashGear as a freelance writer, and worked as a Senior Editor at Android Authority for 10 years. When he’s not writing about tech and science, he’s learning the ins and outs of DIY home repair, gaming, playing his bass guitars and posting help on PC building and gaming subreddits. He is a staunch believer that orange juice should have pulp.![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790128810_39_f6daf44a-3954-4d2e-be68-837ce2953e1f.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSee full bio\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime Halo fans have only ever known two studios to develop the Halo franchise: Bungie and 343 Industries,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-608737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}