A new report by Bloomberg paints a distressing picture for the Destiny studio.

On Monday, October 30th, Bungie laid off an undisclosed number of employees. Earlier in the day on October 31st, we learned that Bungie laid off Michael Salvatori, the legendary composer that created music for several Halo games and the Destiny franchise. Now, a new report from Bloomberg sheds some additional light on just how dire things seem to be at Bungie.

Bloomberg's report says that...

Plus other new details on the recent layoffs at the Destiny developer.

The dust from yesterday's layoffs at Bungie has yet to settle as word continues to trickle out on just who all was let go. Following a meeting with CEO Pete Parsons yesterday, employees from several different departments found out that they were no longer employed at the Destiny 2 development studio. Job cuts hit departments like social media / public relations, community management, art, engineering, player support,...

O'Connor worked on Halo since 2004.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that Halo's franchise director, Frank O'Connor, has left Microsoft. The confirmation from Microsoft comes shortly after initial reporting from Windows Central where they noted that O'Connor's LinkedIn page showed he was no longer working at Microsoft or 343 Industries.

Microsoft's statement about O'Connor's departure was very short. They say, "We thank Frank for his numerous contributions to the...

Staten will lead development on a new "AAA multi-platform game."

On April 8, 2023, news about Joseph Staten parting ways from Microsoft made its way around the Internet. Staten served as the creative lead on Halo Infinite and was the cinematic director on the first three Halo titles from Bungie. At the time, Staten said that he would have "more info to share soon."

True to his word, Staten's immediate future was revealed today. Taking once more to Twitter,...

Halo is staying with 343 Industries, but there are big changes coming.

After Microsoft announced plans to layoff 10,000 employees, many of which are coming from Xbox studios, the fate of the Halo franchise lingered in limbo. It was initially rumored that main Halo developer, 343 Industries, would be made into a support studio and that other studios would take on main development of future Halo titles.

343 Industries had to make a statement that refutes those claims. In...

Ross will be replaced by Pierre Hintze as the new studio lead.

Bonnie Ross announced her retirement today, citing "a family medical issue" as the main reason for her departure. Ross has been the lead at 343 Industries and the Halo franchise for the past 15 years, having worked at Microsoft and Xbox for 28 years.

In her Twitter post, Ross says she originally intended to leave following the Winter update's release for Halo Infinite. She also says that she is "incredibly...

The parties arrived at a mutually agreeable settlement.

This past February, original Halo composers Marty O'Donnell and Mike Salvatori, sued Microsoft claiming that the tech giant owed them unpaid royalties. Some of those royalties supposedly dated back as much as 20 years, according to the lawsuit. Full details on this lawsuit from February 2022 can be found in our initial article.

Originally, the pre-trial was set to take place on May 9, 2022. It was here that the issues...

No Paramount+ subscription required but act fast.

Paramount+ just released the first episode of the Halo TV series for free on YouTube. This freebie will be yours to watch for a limited time before being removed on April 7. Oh, you also have to be in a region where Paramount+ is available in order to watch it on YouTube.

I'm simply going to link to the first episode of Halo on YouTube, because embedding it is probably a crapshoot given YouTube's age restrictions and the...

The pair are also seeking an injunction against the upcoming Halo TV series.

A new report by Eurogamer says that the original Halo music composers, Marty O'Donnell and Mike Salvatori, are suing Microsoft over unpaid royalties. Some of these royalties seem to date back roughly 20 years according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers for O'Donnell and Salvatori filed this lawsuit back in June 2020 with a Washington state court. Next week, mediation is scheduled to begin but if no agreement...

Plus, Microsoft files a new Halo trademark.

A new image of Master Chief from the upcoming Halo TV series for Paramount+ has made its way online today. The image shows a great looking and quite accurate Mjolnir armor.

The image comes to us courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. The photo shows actor Pablo Schreiber decked out in Master Chief's iconic armor in some sort of a sandy environment.

A new trailer for this Halo TV series will be debuted tonight during The...

This feature will be added later on.

A series mainstay for the Halo franchise is the ability to replay campaign missions. This is yet another of the major franchise features that will be missing when the game launches this Wednesday, December 8.

The lack of mission replays joins other missing features such as Forge mode and campaign co-op that will be absent from the game's launch. Much like Forge and co-op, 343 Industries says that the ability to replay campaign missions...

The first full trailer will make its debut on Thursday.

Geoff Keighley has confirmed at least one of the major reveals that will take place during The Game Awards on Thursday. We already knew that all of Thursday's reveals wouldn't be focused on games, which is a fact that led many to speculate as to what the other reveals might be. The prevailing thoughts focused on a trailer for the upcoming The Last of Us HBO series, which is still a real possibility.

What I didn't...

Metaverse (noun): A VR space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.

Apparently Mark Zuckerberg isn't the only one looking to get into this whole "metaverse" thing. Microsoft just announced a metaverse for meetings via Microsoft Teams. The company doesn't plan to stop there, however, as they're also looking to expand into gaming-focused metaverses with Xbox.

In speaking with Bloomberg TV, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella...

The murderer's mother even helped trying to hide the body.

An arrest has been made by the Brazilian police of a man suspected of murdering Christiane Louise, a well-known Brazilian voice actor who provided a voice to Cortana in Halo, Mercy in Overwatch, Sivir in League of Legends, and multiple other voice acting and live-action roles. Louise was 49 years old when the announcement of her death came on August 6 by colleague Mário Tupinambá Filho on Instagram.

The suspect...

Digital Foundry provides a detailed analysis of the recent PC release.

This past week on March 3, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was released for the PC by way of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It marked the first time the Anniversary edition was released on the PC and the second time the original Halo was released on the PC. The first time being back in September 2003 via a port by none other than Gearbox Software.

With this week's addition to The Master Chief Collection,...