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[Kacho]

Who is this guy?

A random nobody. Probably best to take what he says with a grain of salt until someone credible reports on the state of 343 and Halo. Press sneak fuck is no doubt contacting employees that got laid off for a big article. Give it a month or so.

I do believe that 343 Halo is done at this point. Microsoft needs to hand off the IP to a competent team.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Someone make sure SenjutsuSage is okay

Why would I believe any of this is true? Who was expecting a full Halo Campaign sequel this year? This is Starfield's year buddy. 343i now gets to plan the future while working on the live service part and then announce the next big campaign when it's ready. I want Halo campaign story dlc, but in reality we've never gotten it before. And as much as I want that, I want a big next-gen only mainline Halo more.

So your first mistake was thinking I took any of what a random guy on twitter is saying seriously. People also believed those Fable rumors and the Halo ditching slipspace for unreal 5 rumors. Why is anybody whining about a Halo campaign exactly a year after the last one came out. I didn't know Halo campaigns suddenly had 2 year cycles.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Wildcard: give Halo to Platinum Games.

Remember boys, shite opinions are everywhere.

Platinum fucking sucks.

 

[Ezekiel_]

For those in denial, a bit of nostalgia :

 

[Hendrick's]

If this means other developers can make a variety of Halo games then that's probably a good thing at this point.

 

[Jaybe]

His dissertation about this will be 1500 words. Are you over that or under that?

Over. I bet it’s still being written which why we haven’t heard anything from him. Alternatively he went into shock and is catatonic.

 

[jm89]

Why would I believe any of this is true? Who was expecting a full Halo Campaign sequel this year? This is Starfield's year buddy. 343i now gets to plan the future while working on the live service part and then announce the next big campaign when it's ready. I want Halo campaign story dlc, but in reality we've never gotten it before. And as much as I want that, I want a big next-gen only mainline Halo more.

So your first mistake was thinking I took any of what a random guy on twitter is saying seriously. People also believed those Fable rumors and the Halo ditching slipspace for unreal 5 rumors. Why is anybody whining about a Halo campaign exactly a year after the last one came out. I didn't know Halo campaigns suddenly had 2 year cycles.

What keyboard do you use bro? I need something that can take a beating.

 

[Robb]

I’d be very sad to hear they scrapped singleplayer DLC for Infinite..

Other than that though this sound like decent news. I’m just constantly baffled by how poorly Halo Infinite is handled and has been handled by 343i, distancing them more from the development of future games only sounds good to me.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Over. I bet it’s still being written which why we haven’t heard anything from him. Alternatively he went into shock and is catatonic.

Lets pray for him. Poor bastard.

 

[recursive]

People online love to talk shit, take joy when bad things happen to the plastic box they don't support, etc. So many fanboys that pretend to have a personal vested interest in the misery of developers and IPs they don't care about, pretty wild tbh but I get it. Everyone wants to be on the winning team even if at the end of the day everyone is just a consumer, so it really is what it is.

That said, its a shame they weren't able to capitalize on what they had during that launch window. There are a lot of Halo fans that deserve better.

Yea or people call a turd a turd and some certain fanbois only see sparkles.

 

[Kacho]

For those in denial, a bit of nostalgia :

 

[TrebleShot]

Bethesda about to become halo studios

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Halo didn't deserve this but 343 absolutely does. Halo went from the top dog in the FPS scene to middle of the road at best. Part of the blame lies at Spencer's/Xbox's feet because of how they propped up incompetent management.

Phil reminds me of a wartime general. You need someone to come in with good ideas and rally the troops so you can right the ship, he's the guy. Which is what he did with Xbox. Shuttered the underperforming studios, brought in some key features and ideas, and bolstered the in-house talent through acquisitions. It feels like his work is done and now its time to hand the keys to someone more equipped to manage what they have, the right way.

 

[gothmog]

I feel bad for the hardcore Halo fans if it's true. 343 fucks up over and over again and I feel like we are losing Halo and not 343?

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Halo didn't deserve this but 343 absolutely does. Halo went from the top dog in the FPS scene to middle of the road at best. Part of the blame lies at Spencer's/Xbox's feet because of how they propped up incompetent management.

Halo was never top dog. It had zero competition in the console space. Hate to tell you guys the truth, but that's the truth. Counter-Strike 1.5/1.6 has been a superior multiplayer experience on PC for years. I constantly need to remind people that only about 25 million people bought that first Xbox. And the majority of Xbox 360 owners never touched Halo 3 or any of the other games. The moment another top tier FPS dropped in COD, you saw what started taking place. And then stronger and stronger shooters started showing up. I've become a big fan of Halo for its singleplayer campaign stories.

People keep living in a past where Halo was something it never was. Even what some thought were its biggest launches were outdone by both Halo 4 and Halo 5. Games made by 343i. Halo Infinite also had the biggest launch in series history by far. The game won multiple GOTYs, reviewed strong. So, yea, just another case of people who weren't so much fans of Halo hoping Halo dies and are now here prematurely celebrating what? Nothing at all. Another rumor that will be proven false at the relevant time and place.

 

[ReBurn]

I'm glad Halo Infinite was on game pass. I would have been pissed if I paid 60 bucks for it.

 

[Shakka43]

Wildcard: give Halo to Platinum Games.

They will sure make the IP a success lol.

 

[H-I-M]

Didn't microsoft announce that the game had reached 20 millions of players? Where did it go wrong?

 

[remember_spinal]

could they sell the ip to sony and maybe we get bungie halo

Bungie:

 

[SLB1904]

Halo can you go?

I refuse to believe you came up with that.

 

[Katajx]

and people are scared MS acquisitions will mean Xbox taking over the gaming industry

They definitely need to get their shit together. It’s insane they have went from the 360 generation to this.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Halo was never top dog.

Ummmm.... what?

 

[WhiteWaterM00se]

Personally, I think Halo Reach or the 1-3 trilogy should come to Switch, and PS5. MS and Halo need some good PR.

These games are amazing and it would give Halo good "word of mouth". Allowing MS to reboot Halo if needed, or find a new path for Halo games, tv and everything else.

 

[Chronicle]

Craig, this is your fault.

 

[XXL]

Halo was never top dog. It had zero competition in the console space. Hate to tell you guys the truth, but that's the truth. Counter-Strike 1.5/1.6 has been a superior multiplayer experience on PC for years. I constantly need to remind people that only about 25 million people bought that first Xbox. And the majority of Xbox 360 owners never touched Halo 3 or any of the other games. The moment another top tier FPS dropped in COD, you saw what started taking place. And then stronger and stronger shooters started showing up. I've become a big fan of Halo for its singleplayer campaign stories.

People keep living in a past where Halo was something it never was. Even what some thought were its biggest launches were outdone by both Halo 4 and Halo 5. Games made by 343i. Halo Infinite also had the biggest launch in series history by far. The game won multiple GOTYs, reviewed strong. So, yea, just another case of people who weren't so much fans of Halo hoping Halo dies and are now here prematurely celebrating what? Nothing at all. Another rumor that will be proven false at the relevant time and place.

Xbox wouldn't even exist without the success of the first Halo games made by Bungie.

You better put some respect on that shit considering you unapologetically worship the fucking brand.

Kids these days....

 

[Ozzie666]

Gears of War Infinite next staring Master Chief?

This is going to make a great documentary one day. But honestly, HALO and Master Chief deserve better. This is similar to Nintendo killing Pokemon. How can you drop the ball on what is 'XBOX' in a nutshell. Maybe Call of Duty can save them or Perfect Dark.

The question is, how many studios are in a similar situation under Micrsoft? it can't be just 343. Where are the games.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Didn't microsoft announce that the game had reached 20 millions of players? Where did it go wrong?

everybody played it for like 2 weeks and it was good. then there was just no reason to keep playing. the game is solid, and i found the multiplayer fun when i was playing it. they just completely failed to follow up on it and billed it as a live service game. there's like 4 fuckin maps in the game.

 

[YuLY]

I get this sense we are witnessing the start of Xbox downfall.

I cant stand arrogant Sony and their fanbois. So I would certainly put myself more in the Xbox camp (mainly PC gamer). But...I kinda have to agree. Barely any games just promises and delays, Acti-Blizz thing doesnt seem to end, Fable dev is late and people leaving Playground, Perfect Dark couldnt be handled by main internal studio and they had to bring in Crystal Dynamics from Embracer, this Halo thing...They just seem bad at it man. Future seems weird, very dependable on Acti-Blizz going through and gamepass keeping up the numbers, I wont even imagine what happens if something like Starfield disappoints.

 

[TheUndeadGamer]

Thread Summary:

• 343 seems to have lost around 1/3 of its workforce (internal + contractors)
• 2023 plans seem unchanged by this major reshape: focus was and still is on MP for this year (Forge MM, new Seasons/BP, New maps and probably Tatanka)
• Before Bonnie Ross quitting, Joseph Staten with a small team was preparing to ship multiple contained Campaign DLC to expand its narrative over the months or even years. This plan was stopped when Pierre Hintze and the new key roles came in after Ross as they've seen too much complexity in creating new contents for Campaign + was not enough profitable for them to sustain, so they decided to completely halt them in favor on focusing on MP only for the time being (this may have led to Staten deciding to leave too)
• Halo Infinite largely missed its financial and overall goals and led to Microsoft decision to halt 343 "active development" transforming (or regress?) them into "franchise coordinators"
• This means that other than supporting Halo Infinite MP (which is already largely externalized to Certain Affinity, Spearsoft and others), their role will be limited to make sure different external studios will create further Halo projects (direct sequels to Infinite story or spin-offs of different genre) respecting all the established lore and fundamentals for the IP
• Slipspace Engine is still in place along with its internal engineers, but it will be opened up to learn and use also to all external studios working with the IP (if they want)
• In this sense, 343 together with Microsoft Game Publishing started contacting (and contracting) with external studios to create "future Halo experiences" together since 2020, also with the aim to reduce/optimize costs/budget

So basically, Halo as we know it has arrived to an end...

Thank you Pelta for the thread. Much appreciated.
It’s a real shame if this turns out true.

 

[Topher]

Cracks me up

Your posts are hard to read

 

[lh032]

part of it is Microsoft's fault, they should have invest more on new IP.
I Guess thats why they need Activision.

If the acquisition fails (unlikely), just imagine how f*** Microsoft Xbox division situation.

 

[Kacho]

Your posts are hard to read

Bro I can't wait for the Cowboys to get eliminated by the 49ers so I can laugh even harder at that stupid tattoo

 

[Del_X]

So basically core SP content will be developed outside of 343.

This is good news IMO.

 

[Topher]

Bro I can't wait for the Cowboys to get eliminated by the 49ers so I can laugh even harder at that stupid tattoo

Hey look....there's a tattoo.

 

[TheUndeadGamer]

Another tweet confirming this. Don’t know who the person is though. So grain of salt.

 

[Topher]

Why would I believe any of this is true? Who was expecting a full Halo Campaign sequel this year? This is Starfield's year buddy. 343i now gets to plan the future while working on the live service part and then announce the next big campaign when it's ready. I want Halo campaign story dlc, but in reality we've never gotten it before. And as much as I want that, I want a big next-gen only mainline Halo more.

So your first mistake was thinking I took any of what a random guy on twitter is saying seriously. People also believed those Fable rumors and the Halo ditching slipspace for unreal 5 rumors. Why is anybody whining about a Halo campaign exactly a year after the last one came out. I didn't know Halo campaigns suddenly had 2 year cycles.

 

[HYDE]

The real Halo Killer was 343 Industries all along.

Fixed.

 

[ksdixon]

Whaaaat? No way, I call bullshit. Aren't Halo Infinite players still waiting for features promised for the games launch?

How you gonna do Halo/it's fans like that? It is supposed to be XB's number 1 IP right?

 

[mitch1971]

If this is how xbox deal with major franchises, by all means give them cod. /s

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

To be perfectly honest, Halo should probably be a multiplayer only franchise at this point. The single player portion has lost relevance over the years and has been stagnant for a long time.

Put resources where the players show up. Good move by Microsoft.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

Who could have foreseen this? It turns out you can’t just create a studio out of this air, hand them your biggest IP and expect them to churn out system selling games.

Let’s face it, 343 is a trash tier developer. Propped up until now with Microsoft money. They never had to make it as a studio by themselves. They never earned the right to work on such a great IP. Bonnie Ross and Phil Spencer virtue signalled to the world about just how ‘diverse and inclusive‘ the studio was. One problem, they forgot to hire actual talent. Writers and producers that understood the franchise. Developers willing to innovate and move the genre forward. 343 Halo is a regression in almost every sense. There is hardly anything that the latest entry does better than the earlier Bungie games. Halo by committee doesn’t work. Mass market appeal doesn’t always fit. Let Halo breathe for a while then allow a developer that is actually worthy to bring it back to life. Perhaps a reboot from the beginning following more closely to the novels would be a good place to start.

 

[SubZero_Wins]

I now believe in Santa Claus more than 343.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

All those resources.

You have to invest in the right people across the board, not just the studios themselves but overall product management for Xbox.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Doublefine getting some money to do their own take on Halo? I can dream.

 

[Umbasaborne]

They floundered away on a game for 7 years that still launched unfinished…of course it killed the series

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Halo didn't deserve this but 343 absolutely does. Halo went from the top dog in the FPS scene to middle of the road at best. Part of the blame lies at Spencer's/Xbox's feet because of how they propped up incompetent management.

The man is PR gold to many. Never got it myself. I forgot to send him a birthday card recently , was more interested in the actual Xbox product being better you see..

 

[T4keD0wN]

If i were to acquire Call of duty i would too disconnect Halo from life support. Not prematurely though.

 

[SegaManAU]

What an absolute clusterfuck this has become.

 

[Naked Lunch]

People were screaming for a shakeup of 343 for years - and here it is - plain as day.
The franchise isnt dead - its just going on (another) long break.
As a hardcore fan of the franchise its sad to see all the mishaps in recent years - and im pissed off - but its going to be for the best in the end.

 

[Skifi28]

Taking 343 off future halo games sounds good to me, problem is the should have done it 5 years sooner.