Xbox’s Matt Booty Faces Backlash From Developers Over Anniversary Post: “Didn’t You Just Lay Off Most of Halo Studios?”
Xbox is celebrating its 25th anniversary, but not everyone seems to be in the mood to celebrate. Matt Booty, Xbox’s Content Officer, has come under fire from former Halo developers after sharing a post about the milestone.
Several former employees were quick to point out the timing, especially after the recent layoffs that hit Halo Studios and left many of their former colleagues without jobs.
They were quick to question Booty’s celebration, pointing out that thousands of people have lost their jobs in recent months, including many who worked on the Halo franchise.
Halo Studios Was Left With a Small Team Following Microsoft’s Layoffs
Former Halo Studios art director Justin Dinges directly replied to Booty’s post on Linkedin with a simple question: “Didn’t you just lay off most of Halo Studios?”
As mentioned earlier, he was not the only former employee to speak out. Josh Rife, the studio’s former world art lead, also joined the conversation, describing Booty as “nothin’ but a suit.”
Former 343 Industries art director Glenn Israel also pointed out that the layoffs affected half of id Software, adding to the criticism over the number of employees and families facing job losses just before the holiday season.
In case you missed it, Microsoft cut 268 jobs across Halo Studios, other first-party teams, and Xbox management in late September. These changes also affected the future of the Halo franchise, with Xbox shifting development of its next major Halo title to Activision.
Meanwhile, Halo Studios, previously known as 343 Industries, was reduced to a much smaller team. The remaining employees are now mainly focused on supporting existing games rather than leading the development of new entries in the series.
So, if you’re wondering why his post has upset so many former employees, it’s mainly because they don’t think there’s much to celebrate when so many of their former colleagues have just lost their jobs.
In other news, Asha Sharma has explicitly stated that Xbox is not for sale and promised to do “whatever it takes” to set the gaming division up for long-term success.
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