343 Industries, the game studio behind Halo Infinite, hasn’t been doing too well these past few months. Following the game’s multiplayer creative director leaving the company, Microsoft’s recent mass layoffs also reduced the studio’s workforce. In light of the recent developments, 343 put out a statement stating that the studio will “continue to develop games now and in the future.” 

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While the future of 343 Industries and the Halo franchise as a whole seems uncertain given the recent news surrounding the studio, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer offered reassurance in a recent interview, stating that the company is “critically important to the success of Halo.”

What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build. And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo.

Spencer also addresses that Halo Infinite missed the mark in some aspects, but reiterates that 343 did “a really good job” with the most recent Halo title.

…I think sometimes it gets a little bit lost in the discussion about Halo and 343, which will always be iconic for Xbox, is just the launch of Halo Infinite a little over a year ago and the quality of execution that that team put into the game. I thought it was fantastic. Obviously, we’re talking about the following year, and I think there are some missteps that we made as a team, absolutely. But I don’t want to take away from the fact that the team did a really good job delivering a great Halo game. I think reviewers commented on that. We definitely saw players last year playing and the success that that game had.

When asked about Halo Infinite’s 10-year support plan (via NME), here’s what Spencer had to say:

I expect that we’ll be continuing to support and grow Halo for as long as the Xbox is a platform for people to play. So I think the timeline goes on and on in line with Xbox, and I want to make sure the team’s set up to succeed with that.

The Xbox CEO made multiple noteworthy statements in the interview, such as him admitting fault to Xbox’s weak 2022 showing. Halo and Xbox have been inseparable for years, and based on Spencer’s comments, it seems like the company is committed to keep it that way, at least for the time being.

Source: IGN