Halo could become an Activision series, according to "Crazy Rumor".

There's a lot of internal turmoil at Xbox right now, with mass layoffs looming over them while management considers closing studios by the hour. But one thing is consistent across the reports: Halo, Fallout, Gears of War, The Elder Scrolls, and Call of Duty are the priorities right now.

The only problem is that none of these flagships are in a good place. Gears of War is said to have a budget of anywhere between $200 million and $400 million (although that number has been disputed), meaning it would have to be the highest-grossing entry in the series' history to break even – not to mention that it remains exclusive to the platform at a time when Xbox's playerbase is dwindling; Fallout 5 and The Elder Scrolls 6 remain years away and have a lot to live up to after Starfield; Halo: Campaign Evolved is already mired in controversy due to its sweeping changes from the original, coming on the heels of Infinite, which fell well short; and on top of that, Game Pass eroded Call of Duty sales, while Black Ops 7 was drowned out by massive fan backlash and stiff competition last year, leaving other studios within Xbox reportedly feeling punished for its failure.

So, what is the solution? VGC's Jordan Middler originally reported that Obsidian Entertainment was working on a Fallout game, a rumor Bloomberg's Jason Schreier was quick to debunk. Call of Duty vowed to stop sequels after the failures of Black Ops 6 and 7, while reaffirming “no more stupid skins” – an empty promise as Nicolas Cage was just added to BO7 and Warzone. Then there's Halo. Campaign Evolved has a lot going for it to revive the franchise, but there's a “crazy rumor” among insiders that Activision could take over the reins to get the series back on track.

“Heard a crazy rumor that they might put Halo under Activision”

“I heard a crazy rumor that they might put Halo under Activision, which — I don't believe, for what it's worth — I don't necessarily believe right now,” said Windows Central editor Jez Corden (via Power Up Gaming ). “But if that happens, you heard it here first, this is the kind of thing they're looking at: 'How do we structure Halo so it can really start delivering at the level of potential that it actually has?' Because up until now I would argue that basically no. They're looking at the way Activision does a lot of things, the way Blizzard does a lot of things, because Halo could work as a franchise for Blizzard.”

Of course it goes without saying – take this “crazy rumor” with a grain of salt. There has been a lot of conflicting news on Xbox this week as newly appointed CEO Asha Sharma is making sweeping changes at an alarming rate. Reports suggest that he is actively responding to analysts, consultants, and even X threads, demanding that studios turn things around within days or even hours. It's entirely possible that discussions about moving Halo Studios into a strictly managerial role while Activision took over development took place, only for the idea to be dropped that afternoon. Considering the insider's game of tennis about whether Obsidian Entertainment was placed on the block, it wouldn't be surprising.