The next Halo game will have a new team behind it. Xbox has handed development to Activision as part of a wider restructuring that also includes 268 job cuts and changes across several of its biggest studios.

For Halo players, the immediate question is who will take the series forward. In a September 22 announcement on Xbox Wire, Matt Booty confirmed that Activision will build the next title through a new team, separate from its ongoing Call of Duty development and plans.

That distinction matters. Xbox has not assigned Halo to Treyarch, Infinity Ward or another named Call of Duty studio. It has also not revealed the game’s title, release date, platforms or gameplay details.

Halo Studios will retain a smaller team responsible for supporting existing games and the community. The announcement therefore changes responsibility for the next release while keeping support for the current Halo audience in place.

Activision president Rob Kostich has set an ambitious target. In a statement reproduced by Pure Xbox, he said the company wants to:

“make the greatest Halo game ever, worthy of its universe and legacy”

Kostich also said Activision had begun assembling the team and wanted to stay faithful to what players loved about Halo in the first place.

That is the reassurance longtime fans will be looking for, although it leaves plenty unanswered. The statement does not identify the team’s leadership or explain whether developers from Halo Studios will join it. How that commitment translates into the campaign, multiplayer and feel of the next game remains to be seen.

Xbox reshuffles major studios as Ninja Theory faces possible closure

Halo’s move forms part of a much broader change in how Xbox organises development.

Rare and World’s Edge will come under Activision’s oversight, while Obsidian moves under Bethesda. Microsoft Casual Games will join King, and Playground Games and Turn 10 will combine into one studio focused on Forza and Fable.

Xbox says bringing these teams together will reduce the number of business units and strengthen coordination across its franchises.

The restructuring also carries a direct cost for employees. Xbox is eliminating 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party teams, and Xbox Game Studios management and central functions. The company has not provided a studio-by-studio breakdown of those cuts.

Obsidian will continue its existing projects, including Grounded, alongside a new Fallout project in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios. Undead Labs, meanwhile, has become independent with its intellectual property and back catalogue. State of Decay 3 will have a different publisher but remains planned for Game Pass on release day.

Ninja Theory’s future is less certain. Two agreements intended to move the studio out of Microsoft fell through. Xbox is beginning employee consultation over a proposed closure while continuing to explore alternatives. A final closure has not been announced.

Consultation involving Arkane also continues and is expected to run through the end of 2026.

Xbox says the restructuring is roughly three-quarters complete. For players, that leaves a mix of confirmed changes and unresolved questions. Halo has a new development home, but the people making its next chapter, and the shape that chapter will take, still need a proper introduction.