Halo Studios and Romero Games Affected by Microsoft Cuts

Halo Studios was affected by the widespread Xbox layoffs – the studio lost at least five workers, as reported by Engadget. Romero Games’ upcoming project was completely canceled after it lost funding; the studio announced the news on July 3, 2025. 

“Last night, we learned that our publisher has canceled funding for our game along with several other unannounced projects at other studios. This was a strategic decision made at a high level within the publisher, well above our visibility or control,” studio head Brenda Romero wrote in the public announcement. 

GameSpot believes that the publisher was Microsoft, as the company was known to have layoffs across the board this week. 

“This absolutely isn’t a reflection of our team’s work, performance, or the quality of the project itself. We hit every milestone on time, every time, consistently received high praise, and easily passed all our internal gates,” the statement reads. 

Romero Games was founded by John and Brenda Romero in 2015. John Romero is a legend in the game development sphere, having helped create Doom, Doom II, and various other iconic titles.

GameSpot reports that the entire studio is being let go. Microsoft canceled numerous games in this wave of layoffs; a new MMORPG from ZeniMax Online Studios was axed as well. 

As for Halo Studios, an estimated 200 to 300 people remain at the studio. The layoffs were, according to a Teams call with the affected people, made to “increase agility and effectiveness.” The studio is still working on multiple games, including the next Halo installment and Halo: Infinite.
Microsoft layoffs affected approximately 9,100 employees across multiple departments, marking the largest workforce reduction in the company since 2023.