Halo transmedia boss Kiki Wolfkill has seemingly left 343 Industries
The studio has recently undergone a major shake-up with job cuts and leadership departures
Kiki Wolfkill, formerly head of Halo transmedia and entertainment at 343 Industries, has seemingly left the studio for another role at Xbox.
That’s according to her LinkedIn profile, which states that she left the Halo developer this month.
Wolfkill had been working at 343 since 2008, initially joining as an executive producer on Halo 4 before spending eight years in her most recent role, where she recently oversaw the launch of the Halo TV show.
Wolfkill is still employed at 343’s parent company Microsoft, with her LinkedIn profile stating that she’s been working as head of Xbox IP expansion and entertainment for the past three months.
It’s unclear exactly what Wolfkill’s new role entails and whether she’s still working closely with 343, but VGC has contacted Microsoft for clarification.
Update
VGC understands Wolfkill remains an exec producer on the Halo TV series, and is expanding her role to encompass all Xbox IPs.
Wolfkill’s departure happened months before recent mass layoffs at Microsoft, of which 343 was reportedly hit hard.
Earlier this month, the US technology giant confirmed plans to lay off approximately 4.5% of its 220,000-person workforce (around 10,000 people).
As part of the shake-up, Halo veteran Joseph Staten is also reportedly leaving 343 to rejoin Xbox Game Studios Publishing.
Wolfkill’s exit follows other recent senior departures from 343 including its multiplayer creative director, its director of engineering, and Bonnie Ross, who was the studio head for 15 years.
343’s latest game, Halo Infinite, has had a troubled production, suffering various delays and changes of leadership in the years leading up to its December 2021 release and since.
In a recent interview with IGN, Xbox boss Phil Spencer praised Sony’s “fantastic” The Last of Us TV adaptation and said that Xbox aspired to hit the same high bar with its Halo show.
“Obviously, the foundation of that is the work that Naughty Dog did in building the franchise. And I also think that — and he probably won’t like it that I call him out on this — but the fact that [studio co-president] Neil [Druckmann] himself has played a role obviously in the creation of the game and the franchise, but see him applying his creative talents in the TV space…I think is really great. It’s great for him, it’s great for the team.”
Spencer added: “The fact that you take one of the greatest creators from our industry and you can have success in creating in another medium, I just think it shows that in the games industry, you have some amazing storytellers, amazing creators across all third-party, first-party. I think it’s just a great moment to see the success that they’re having with the franchise, and congrats to all of them.”