Halo Studios Was Working on Halo 7, Remakes Before Shakeup

Did you ever wonder what Halo Studios was actually cooking up before Microsoft swung the axe? Thanks to new insider reports, we now have a pretty clear picture—and it's a mix of ambitious plans and frustrating delays.

According to The Verge's Tom Warren and YouTuber Rebs Gaming, the drastic cuts came as a shock to many at Halo Studios. Employees reportedly had to wait hours to find out if they still had a job, with the first official word coming in a public Xbox blog post before individual notifications went out. Ouch.

As for the games themselves, the next mainline Halo—let's call it Halo 7—was still years away. No games were in full production when the layoffs hit, but work was underway on remakes of Halo 2 and Halo 3, plus Halo 7 and some spinoff campaigns. One of those spinoffs would have been based on the First Strike novel and was planned for release between the remakes.

Now, Halo Studios is reportedly down to around 30 people, according to Rebs' source, and they'll be servicing existing games like Halo Infinite and Campaign Evolved. Meanwhile, Activision is building a new studio dedicated to the future of Halo. So the franchise isn't dead—it's just under new management.

The insiders acknowledge there's always more to the story, but the picture they paint feels very Halo Studios: slow-moving, scattered, and with one foot firmly in the past. We all assumed more remakes were coming, but that's looking less likely now. Considering how Campaign Evolved was a step back from the original, I can't decide if that's a relief or a missed opportunity.

It's genuinely sad that these developers won't get a crack at Halo 7. For all its delays and live-service fumbles, Halo Infinite grew into the best Halo since the Bungie days—and even outshined its original makers in some respects. Here's hoping some of that talent lands on their feet and gets to work on the next Halo venture.

What do you think? Were you looking forward to those remakes, or is it time for a fresh start? Let us know in the comments.