Last week, campaign level and gameplay designer Kolbe Payne announced his departure from Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries. This new addition to the already long list of developers who have left 343 during Halo Infinite’s development reignited worries among many Halo fans that the sixth entry in the beloved first-person shooter franchise may be in trouble. However, what should be noted that is contracts end, people move on, and stuff like this happens all the time. Some departures are more indicative of something bad, of course, but definitely not all of them.
Halo Infinite was originally announced at E3 2018. At the time, 343 had acknowledged its missteps with the story of Halo 5: Guardians and vowed to get it right for Halo 6. Clearly, the studio took some time to step back and plan a new direction for the next entry, as Halo 5 was released in 2015 and Halo Infinite was not even announced until three years later. It appeared that 343 knew what to do and was headed in the right direction, with a renewed focus on Master Chief as the protagonist. The game was announced with an “in-engine” trailer and not gameplay, however, and the lack of a release date meant that Halo Infinite was still a ways off.
Then came the first departure. Shortly after another E3 in 2019 with no gameplay, it was announced by Microsoft that creative director of Halo 5 and Halo Infinite Tim Longo would be leaving 343. This news came as a surprise to many, but Microsoft tried to soothe fears of those concerned over the state of Halo Infinite by saying, “Roles and responsibilities of various team members regularly evolve to meet the needs of a game, throughout development.”
While losing a creative director may seem worrisome, Longo’s departure could have been beneficial for many. It seems Longo voluntarily left and moved onto consulting, and Microsoft also noted in the announcement that it would move longtime 343 developer Mary Olson to “take charge of the Campaign team on Halo Infinite as the Lead Producer.”
Olson was not long for the role, however, as two months later it was revealed that Mary Olson would be leaving 343 for a position at then-newly formed Midwinter Entertainment. It is important to note that Olson was not credited as the creative director, but as the lead producer of the campaign team, as the creative director role shifted to someone else inside 343. So it is possible, if not likely, that Olson left because her work on Halo Infinite was complete. At that point, Infinite was expected to release for the holiday of 2020 alongside the yet to-be-named Xbox Series X/S.
Gameplay for Halo Infinite was finally revealed in July 2020. While many liked new additions, such as a grappling hook and a much more open-world-esque level design, one thing fans were not pleased with was the graphics. Many expressed their disappointment in and even mocked Halo Infinite’s visuals for how the long-awaited game that was meant to showcase the power of the Xbox Series X didn’t meet their graphical expectations. Xbox marketing GM Aaron Greenberg claimed that the graphics had already improved, as the version of the game demonstrated at the 2020 Xbox Games Event was an earlier build of the game, and that the visuals would improve even more before release.
But once fans began to dissect the gameplay further, some began to sour on other features included in the demo. Some fans did not like the inclusion of a sprint button or other additional movement controls that were not present in the original Halo trilogy, like sliding and climbing. While additions like these make sense for many modern shooters, Halo has a very particular gameplay loop that some hardcore fans do not want to see tampered with. The level of graphical polish coupled with some controversial gameplay decisions and the fact that the multiplayer had yet to be unveiled led some to wonder if Halo Infinite was going to make its holiday 2020 release target.
The following month, it was announced by 343 and Microsoft that Halo Infinite would not be making that holiday 2020 target after all, and the game would be delayed to some time in 2021. While the new Xbox Series X/S consoles would be forgoing an exclusive launch title, the public response to the decision to delay Halo Infinite seemed to be overwhelmingly positive. The announcement did not claim the delay was to make any changes to the gameplay, but rather because 343 needed more time to meet its “vision” and because of difficulties caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Just as it seemed that Infinite could be back on the right track, another seeming blow was dealt this past October when the game’s second director and replacement for Tim Longo, Chris Lee, was revealed to be leaving 343 Industries also. Lee left with the statement, “I believe in the team and am confident they will deliver a great game and now is a good time for me to step away.” While Lee’s departure may seem like a critical lost just when 343 is trying to finish the project, Lee’s statement makes it sound more like the studio knows what to do to wrap up the project. After all, the studio originally expected the game to be complete by last November, so nothing overly drastic should be left for the development of Halo Infinite.
And it hasn’t all been departures for 343 Industries, as one key arrival was Bungie veteran, Joseph Staten, was brought on board shortly after the August 2020 delay to take charge of the single player. Staten’s work on the original trilogy of Halo games involved writing and directing much of those games. Staten can likely help finalize the single player of Halo Infinite and bring it in line with the style of storytelling people came to love with the original three Halo games.
Most importantly, it is key to remember that while video games may sometimes be steered by directors like Death Stranding and Metal Gear’s Hideo Kojima or Mario’s Shigeru Miyamoto, names that are instantly recognizable, they are still the product of hundreds of unique developers who all bring their own unique AAA skillset to shape a game into the final product. So while some departures may seem catastrophic, there are still hundreds of key people at 343 Industries capable of making a great Halo game.
Halo Infinite releases fall 2021 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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