Activision is building the next Halo as Halo Studios loses the series

The next mainline Halo is being developed at Activision, not at Halo Studios. Microsoft reorganized its games division on September 22, 2026, cut 268 jobs and pulled the series out of the studio that carried it. One personnel case shows how fast this moved: the cinematic director at Halo Studios was promoted and laid off in the same week.

What is known

Activision is assembling a dedicated team for Halo. Nobody is being pulled off Call of Duty for it, so the series gets its own crew inside the company.

The cuts hit Halo Studios harder than other teams. The studio that owned the series until now carries the weight of the 268 eliminated positions.

Halo Studios keeps two jobs: Halo Infinite and Halo: Campaign Evolved. A new mainline entry is no longer on that list.

The reshuffle goes beyond Halo. Rare and World's Edge move under the Activision umbrella as well.

One case sums up the pace of the restructuring. The cinematic director at Halo Studios received a promotion and a layoff notice within a single week.

Why it matters

Until this week, Halo sat with a studio that existed for this series alone. The next entry now comes from the company behind Call of Duty, while the old team keeps the existing games running. That reads less like a restructuring and more like a handover: the brand changes house, the studio name stays attached to two titles.

The detail that Activision is building a new team instead of moving Call of Duty staff is the most important nuance here. Halo does not become a side project inside an annual production cycle, but it does depend on a team that still has to be assembled.

For players, little changes right now, because Halo Infinite and Halo: Campaign Evolved stay supported. Further out, a different company decides the tone, the scope and the release timing of the series. Halo fans are split on the takeover, with no clear consensus on whether it helps or hurts the brand.

The move of Rare and World's Edge shows this is not a one-off. Activision is becoming the address for brands that used to sit with their own studios.

What is still open

None of the sources give a release window, a platform list or a name for the next Halo. It is also unclear how many of the 268 cut positions land at Halo Studios, and who takes over the work of the laid-off cinematic director. Whether Halo Studios gets anything beyond Halo Infinite and Halo: Campaign Evolved remains unanswered.