UPDATE: a number of contractors impacted, but full-time staff remain.

Image credit: Microsoft

UPDATE 4.30PM 7TH AUGUST: Eurogamer understands that recent job cuts at Halo Studios purely affect contract workers, rather than full-time employees.

According to Game Developer, the number of these contractors whose time at the Halo: Campaign Evolved studio have come to an end is unknown. However, a source speaking to the outlet said that this was due to "external contractor shifts". Eurogamer can corroborate that no full-time employees were affected by these cuts.

ORIGINAL STORY 10AM 6TH AUGUST: Halo Studios appears to have been hit with layoffs, just a week after the release of Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Per the personal accounts of developers on social media, it seems a number of developers are saying their farewells to the studios and their peers. Like thousands of others impacted by layoffs during this brutal era of the games industry, they are looking for work.

Here's an accolades trailer for Halo: Campaign Evolved.Watch on YouTube

"After 6.5 years working on Halo and dodging just as many rounds of layoffs - it has finally caught up to me," wrote producer Nick Treitman on LinkedIn. "I have nothing but love for Halo and the folks at the studio, this is just a tough reality in the gaming industry right now."

Paul Morris, a "scrum master" at Halo Studios, wrote: "Today, I learned my time at Halo Studios will be coming to an end following the successful launch of our latest game, Halo: Campaign Evolved. I know this is one of the most challenging job markets our industry has seen, and I know the road ahead won’t be easy."

The full extent of these layoffs are unclear as of writing. Xbox did not immediately respond to Eurogamer's request for comment.

This comes after a wave of layoffs have hit a number of Microsoft-owned companies. Last month, Xbox announced 3,200 job cuts across it and the studios it owns, with 1,600 jobs being cut immediately. The remaining 1,600 would be cut throughout this financial year, leaving companies like Halo Studios still in the crosshairs for continued cuts in the near future.

Halo: Campaign Evolved has seemingly performed well: the game reviewed largely positively among critics, though official sales figures have not been released for the remake quite yet. Alinea Analytics notes that the game "has sold through 212K on Steam and around 900K on Xbox (console and PC)" whilst enduring "a notably slow start on PlayStation" where the firm estimates it has sold roughly 351K units. Campaign Evolved is present on Game Pass, too, which likely affects the number of sales it's making on PC and Xbox.

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