San Francisco, Jan 23 (IANS): Video game Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has shared a brief message about the franchise's future after being hit hard by the Microsoft layoffs.

"Halo and Master Chief are here to stay," 343 said in a statement attributed to studio head Pierre Hintze, reports Engadget.

"343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great," it added.

Halo Infinite is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios.

The statement comes after Microsoft confirmed that it would lay off 10,000 employees before the end of March.

Moreover, the report mentioned that the restructuring "hit hard" 343 Industries, which lost Halo veteran and creative director Joe Staten, who joined the studio in 2020 to help bring Infinite to completion, to Microsoft's publishing division.

Meanwhile, Microsoft also announced plans to shut down its social virtual reality platform AltspaceVR, which offered immersive social spaces for people to interact with friends and colleagues as 3D avatars.

In 2017, Microsoft stepped in and acquired the platform after AltspaceVR decided to shut it down, and now the company said it will shut down the service on March 10, 2023.