Last week, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 10,000 people. Later it became known that studio 343 Industries “suffered greatly” from the cuts, but the exact number of dismissed developers was not called.
In an interview with the IGN portal, one of the former employees of 343 Industries said that the studio lost almost a quarter of its employees. Another employee clarified that the layoffs affected all departments — about 30 people left the art department alone.
One of the former studio executives told IGN that in the future 343 Industries will only be engaged in publishing games. Several more people said that the studio is unlikely to remain the only developer of the Halo series of games.
Earlier, there were rumors on the web that 343 Industries was completely suspended from the development of Halo. The studio itself has officially denied this information.