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'I was promoted and laid off in the same week': Halo Studios cinematic director speaks out amid Xbox layoffs
Halo Studios cinematic director Josh Daniels was laid off just days after being promoted.
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Josh Daniels' time at Halo Studios came to an unexpected end after he revealed that he was promoted and laid off in the same week. His departure comes as Xbox goes through a major restructuring and Activision takes over development of the next Halo game.
Who is Josh Daniels?
Josh Daniels was the cinematic director of Halo Studios, according to his LinkedIn profile. He studied at Arizona State University from 2005 to 2007. Before joining Halo Studios, Daniels worked at Turn 10 Studios for 8 years and 10 months. He had been involved with Xbox for just over a decade, having previously lent his talents to the Forza Motorsport games.
Daniels joined Halo Studios as cinematic director in July 2024, as per his LinkedIn, and worked on Halo: Campaign Evolved, a title that was met with a lukewarm reception from players upon its release earlier this year, according to IGN.
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Promoted and laid off in the same week
Daniels was one of the employees impacted by Xbox's recent layoffs. He confirmed the news in a post on LinkedIn, revealing that he had just been promoted that same week.
His last LinkedIn post read, “Promoted and laid off in the same week is pretty wild. I'm one of the many hit by the Halo Studios layoffs. I'll be taking some offline time today but very much would love to talk to anyone looking for Cinematic Direction or Production roles. Feel free to get in touch if anything looks like I might be a fit.”
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Why was Daniels laid off?
Xbox's major restructuring continued this week. Chief Content Officer Matt Booty announced 268 layoffs across Halo Studios, other first-party studios and the Xbox Game Studios management and central teams, as per IGN.
A video game cinematic director oversees the game's creative vision, story direction and in-game cutscenes, among other work.
The removal of this role suggests that the next Halo game could take a very different approach from earlier games.
Activision takes over Halo development
One of the biggest changes in Xbox's restructuring is that Activision is now leading the development of the Halo franchise. Halo Studios still exists and will “continue supporting the Halo community and games in-market,” but Activision is now working on the next game in the series.
Other studios affected by Xbox's restructuring include Undead Labs. The studio said its next game, State of Decay 3, is still in active development. It is expected to have a closed beta later this year, with the game set to release in 2027, as per IGN.
