- Cinematic Director Josh Daniels was promoted at Halo Studios on Monday and then fired the next day.
- Daniels worked at Xbox for 11 years and was caught up in the company’s recent restructure.
- Commenters on LinkedIn criticised the corporate structure of Xbox for promoting and then laying someone off in just a day.
After announcing over 3,000 redundancies just a few months ago, Xbox has gone through another round of layoffs. As part of its restructuring under Asha Sharma, the company has fired 268 employees while shuffling around multiple studios under its wing.
Activision Blizzard has taken control of multiple developers as part of the new changes, with Halo now under its care. From the looks of it, the Call of Duty publisher taking over the IP was essential, as Halo Studio promoted one of its employees and then fired him the next day as part of the layoffs.
Why it matters: A corporate structure that promotes someone and then fires them the very next day is exactly why Halo Studios lost control of its prized IP to Activision.
Halo Studios developer Josh Daniels revealed on LinkedIn that he was caught up in the recent Xbox layoffs despite being promoted just a day before them on Monday. Daniels worked as a cinematic director at the studio and was a long-term member of the Xbox family, working at the company in some form for the last 11 years.
The developer called the drastic change “wild,” and commenters also criticised Xbox’s corporate structure for promoting someone and then firing them the next day.
Considering all the issues that have plagued Halo Studios in the past few years, this isn’t anything surprising. Leadership problems have ruined multiple projects in development at the studio, with Halo Infinite’s campaign also getting impacted by poor coordination.
Moreover, Halo Studios cancelled multiple titles in production as it couldn’t manage the workload. Hence, Xbox deciding to appoint a new guardian for one of its biggest IPs makes a lot more sense, taking events like this promotion into account. The franchise’s new steward, Activision, has already claimed that it wants to make the greatest Halo title in the history of the franchise and is aware of the IP’s storied history.
Do you think the decision to fire an employee right after they were promoted is indicative of the exact problems that have plagued Halo and its previous steward? Tell us in the comments below or head to the Tech4Gamers forum for discussion.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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