Over the past year and a half, 343 Industries has been actively losing employees, reports insider Bathrobe Spartan, who specializes in the Halo series. According to him, the studio currently has fewer than 280 employees, down from 450 at the beginning of 2023.
Halo Wars 2
Bathrobe Spartan writes that studio management fired over 100 people, and another 50-60 specialists left on their own. 343 Industries now extends contracts with freelance personnel less frequently and works more with outsourced teams. Notably, of the remaining studio employees, only 30% are directly involved in game development, while the rest are primarily responsible for business and production.
Bathrobe Spartan also discovered that 343 Industries has transitioned to a new method of game production. The studio now intends to create concepts and initiate preliminary game development internally, while outsourcing the rest of the work to other studios. This format was previously used for Halo Wars 2. Currently, 343 Industries is purportedly working on two new games, but their release is not expected before 2026.