Pierre Hintze, studio head of 343 Industries, issued an official statement on Twitter (opens in new tab) declaring that development of Halo will continue. The statement came just days after 343 was affected by Microsoft's layoffs of 10,000 employees (opens in new tab).

"Halo and Master Chief are here to stay," the statement begins. "343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic storylines, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great."

It is unclear how many of the 10,000 employees Microsoft laid off were 343 developers. The statement appears to be in response to an earlier leak of what appeared to be plans for a Halo Infinite battle royale mode (opens in new tab), initiated by French Halo influencer Bathrobe Spartan (opens in new tab), who had previously leaked a story about what appeared to be plans for a battle royale mode for Halo Infinite (opens in new tab).

Bathrobe Spartan claims that 343 has undergone a major reorganization of its role in the franchise, a summary of which can be found in English at ResetEra (opens in new tab) Bathrobe Spartan specifically claims that 343, including contractors He claims that with the loss of one-third of its employees, Halo Infinite failing to meet its sales goals, 343 will return to a "coordinating role" in the franchise rather than actively developing a new Halo game.

One of the leakers' claims, that the planned single-player DLC for Halo Infinite was canceled, which led to the departure of creative director Joseph staten, has been confirmed by Windows Central editor-in-chief at least partially denied by Jez Corden: "The campaign DLC was never in active development," Corden tweeted (opens in new tab).

On the same day as the layoffs, former 343 developer Patric Wren and contract employee Nicholas Bird discussed the direction of Halo Infinite and the treatment of contract employees, who are required by Microsoft to take 18 months of employment and a six-month leave of absence from 343 Leadership (open in new tab) criticized.

After a troubled development and a seemingly successful launch, Halo Infinite unfortunately hit a rough patch in 2022 (open in new tab), with a slow pace of multiplayer updates and features such as Forge and campaign co-op being significantly delayed. Even with Hintze's public assurances, "Halo" was already in bad shape before 343 took this hit.