CoD players fear Microsoft layoffs point toward same path as Halo Infinite

The last things CoD fans want is another Halo Infinite.

A Brute Chieftain wields a Gravity Hammer in front of his soldiers.
Image via 343 Industries

Microsoft sent shockwaves through the gaming industry by laying off 1,900 Activision Blizzard employees, impacting several Call of Duty studios. As a result, some CoD players fear the franchise is falling down the same slippery slope as Halo Infinite.

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Almost every CoD studio suffered cuts due to the massive Activision Blizzard layoffs. Employees from Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch, Toys For Bob, and High Moon Studio all posted they were let go. Some studios were hit harder than others, as Sledgehammer Games lost 30 percent of its staff and Toys For Bob reportedly cut around 40 percent.

Two MW3 characters running next to each other.
The future of CoD has been put in doubt. Image via Activision

CoD players questioned how this decision would impact the future of the franchise. Looking back on Microsoft’s track record, that fear is beginning to spread.

CoD players don’t want repeat of Halo Infinite

In November 2022, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty admitted the Microsoft-backed studio “fell short” after Halo Infinite’s post-launch content failed to deliver. The long-awaited game peaked at around 20 million players, but the game’s first season lasted six months due to a delay of the next season, and Infinite’s third season didn’t go live until March 2023.

Halo Infinite developers 343 Industries suffered similar massive layoffs in January 2023, and Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier revealed that Microsoft has a long, troubled history of using contractors. “As usual, one of Halo Infinite’s biggest development problems was labor,” Schreier said. A large chunk of 343 workers were on contracts and couldn’t stay longer than 18 months due to Microsoft restrictions. Full-time promotions were rare. So the studio was constantly losing talent and knowledge,”

CoD community members are worried that Microsoft will go the same route and turn to contractors to develop future games or post-game content like they did with Halo Infinite. “If Microsoft takes Call of Duty down the route of Halo, it will be disastrous,” CoD insider CharlieIntel claimed.

Other community members shared a similar sentiment. “Microsoft literally bought Activision just so they could ruin it just like they did with Halo,” a commenter added.

It’s still too early to tell what these layoffs mean for CoD’s future, but that hasn’t stopped community members from fearing the worst.

Author
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
Ryan graduated from Ithaca College in 2021 with a sports media degree and a journalism minor. He gained experience as a writer with the Morning Times newspaper and then Dexerto as a games writer. He mainly writes about first-person shooters, including Call of Duty and Battlefield, but he is also a big FIFA fan. You can contact him at ryanlemay@dotesports.com.