We’re now living in a timeline that would have been impossible to comprehend for a grunt-squashing teen in 2007: Activision is making the next Halo game. And, now, fans have questions about the change. Is this year’s Halo Fest still happening, despite sweeping layoffs at Halo Studios? Will Activision’s new game reboot the lore? Can Master Chief finally, please, catch a break?
“We are eliminating 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the XGS management and central functions layer,” Xbox Studios chief Matt Booty wrote in a statement this week as part of the console maker’s wide-ranging restructure. “Activision will also be developing the next Halo title, led by a new, purpose-built team that is separate from ongoing development and plans for Call of Duty. A small team at Halo Studios will continue supporting the Halo community and games in-market.”
Xbox’s restructuring laid off 1,600 workers this summer, with a further 1,600 job cuts planned over the course of the year, but it also rejigged several studios. Obsidian is now part of Bethesda, for example, and Halo is now part of Activision, along with Rare and World’s Edge.
It’s a dramatic shift for a franchise that was once Xbox’s golden goose, and fans are conflicted about what it means for the future of the iconic sci-fi shooter series. One big worry is Activision may reboot the story and throw away lore that’s been built up across 25 years – or, perhaps, scrap some of the extended universe lore, as Disney did to Star Wars when it took over that galaxy.
Honestly that’s my biggest fear. I fear that they’ll just do a general reset on Halo’s established lore.
If that happens, I’m out https://t.co/SkpENQih3u
— Nakai Targaryen (Covie Canon/ACOIAF) (@NakaiCanon) September 22, 2026
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Frankly I’m out if they DON’T do a semi-reboot and axe ALL of 343’s lore. There is zero future for any stories which share a continuity with Halo 4, 5, and Infinite. https://t.co/ti32iP4qBv
— supermad (@madis259) September 22, 2026
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gotta love how the mass resetting of Halo as well as a FULL reboot is happening right after the franchise left off on a blank fucking canvas. Ripe for any possibilities. Backwards company. https://t.co/WV0TqHXPuA
— Moe (@MOTMRW) September 23, 2026
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Hot take, but I want Activision to reboot Halo back to just after Halo 3, no 343 Forerunner lore, and focus on a war story about humanity rebuilding and parts of the galaxy resisting that.
Halo has strayed too far from humanity while trying to make Chief human, ironically.
— John Welfare (@Welfare_JBP) September 22, 2026
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“That would be another terrible idea in a string of terrible ideas,” one Redditor wrote in response to a rumor suggesting Activision’s Halo is, in fact, a reboot. “Doubtful tbh. Restarting after Halo 3 maybe at most,” another said. The duality of man, I guess?
Another big question mark hangs over Halo Fest Seattle, which was scheduled to celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary with fans in December. There’s been lots of speculation these past few days about whether the live event goes ahead, considering most of Halo Studios has been gutted. I’ve asked Xbox for comment and will report back if I hear anything.
In a statement given to Kotaku, Activision president Rob Kostich said the company’s goal is to “make the greatest Halo game ever, worthy of its universe and legacy, while staying true to what made players love it in the first place.” Kostich’s statement is certainly vague enough that things could go either way – it sounds like whatever studio ends up taking over the series hasn’t even been assembled yet, so discussions about lore probably won’t happen for quite some time. Regardless, binning two decades worth of stories and really cool world building seems like a big shame. There’s still so much untapped material in the novels that’s ripe for a video game adaptation, akin to Halo Reach, as well.
And, I agree with a faction of the Halo community, parts of the post-Bungie era were a mess – messy to follow as a player without reading every published Halo book and, probably, messy for a developer trying to figure out a sensible path forward. But Halo Infinite ended with a clean slate, of sorts. Cortana 1.0 is gone, a new threat is on the horizon, and all the space magic nonsense has seemingly been forgotten about. Why start from scratch, again?