Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto says he doesn’t have ‘anything positive to say’ about EA after layoffs significantly impacted his newly formed studio, Ridgeline Games, which was closed down amidst the company’s restructure recently. It is estimated that around 670 employees lost their jobs during the mass layoffs at Electronic Arts.
Marcus Lehto formed Ridgeline Games under EA’s banner a while ago, initially set to develop single-player campaigns in the Battlefield franchise before EA unceremoniously closed the studio. Lehto himself left Ridgeline in February, just days before EA announced the mass layoffs. Speaking candidly on Twitter/X, Lehto says that he hasn’t spoken in a while since he doesn’t “have anything positive to say about EA.”
This is understandable as EA’s layoffs left hundreds of employees without a job in the industry, including Lehto’s team at Ridgeline Games. Unfortunately this is just a fraction of the wider problem at hand as the gaming industry continues to be swept with mass layoffs from the likes of Microsoft, Ubisoft, PlayStation, Riot Games and more. Earlier this year, Microsoft laid off around 1,900 employees across its gaming divisions including Activision Blizzard, Bethesda and Xbox Game Studios.
Not been saying much here since I don’t have anything positive to say about EA, my recent departure, and how so many, including my team, are suffering due to the industry sweeping layoffs.
— Marcus Lehto 🇺🇦 (@game_fabricator) March 15, 2024
Marcus Lehto was part of the original team at Bungie responsible for the creation of the popular Halo franchise, with Lehto often cited as one of its co-creators. While Bungie has since parted ways with Xbox and joined PlayStation to continue work on the Destiny franchise and beyond, Halo was left in the care of 343 Industries since the release of Halo 4. The company has since worked on Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite for Xbox, while Lehto moved on to other ventures.
Source: Marcus Lehto
