With Halo Infinite’s parents reformed, we’ll now see where the 10-year-old problems come from.

There are reasons to be excited about the future of the Xbox flagship, but also worried.

The “halo community is pissed” is something you can say in both 2012 and 2022. I have no doubt about it. 343 Industries There are good things to come, but delighting fans is a pending issue that the Washington team has been dragging on since Microsoft took the reins of the star franchise – story and narrative, functionalities, decisions in mechanics, and design or identity of PvP mods to name but a few. It’s one of the titles that has tormented both fans and writers all this time.

It’s not a matter of talent, lack of resources, or even ignoring the comments of your followers: rather, from this side of the screen, we often attribute it to an issue. incompetent management in development. Perhaps this explains the lack of some key features in Infinite after almost a year of life (after an equally long delay) or the cancellation of split-screen collaboration, among many other things. But whatever the cause of these events, the truth is that a few days ago there was a series of unfortunate incidents related to this very topic on the networks.

Bonnie Ross, who has until now been president of 343 Industries, announced on her personal Twitter account that she was leaving the studio, a move that led to a restructuring of the studio’s executive leadership. The decision was justified by a family matter of a medical nature, but I couldn’t help but feel it. a little disgust because the news comes less than a week after a fan posted a nearly 10-minute video that gathered the creators’ thoughts on the current state of Halo Infinite and the series in general. if it is to give rise to an evil spirit where some ugly ends are reached, such as calling for layoffs for certain individuals.

The comments of a few do not represent the entire community, it is clear; but I also saw it as a window into a reality as harsh as a feeling. widespread discontent and deep that floods the fans. Even if the facts I mentioned are unrelated, they still help us ask ourselves what it would take to restore the lost glory of the Spartans.

HALO is a thing in itself, with pretty specific needs for its formula.The halo universe is now discovery factor Neither the idea of ​​playing a controller shooter nor going into an online game that he had in his early years is not new; and each new episode keeps up with industry trends—dark, personal stories ripe for the campaign; eSports for multiplayer. None of this matches the real identity of Halo, the game designed in a walking green armor and the social experience of setting up a LAN to stay between colleagues until the embarrassing hours of the morning. Master Chief and company are their own business with very concrete needs for their formula. It’s a bit like “Fortnite of 2001”, so to speak.

Glad to have new bosses at 343 Industries because they have the strength to deal with it. existential crisis What IP goes through is more in line with the interests of the huge public who remained loyal to the Master Chief after his golden age by channeling the team’s human and monetary efforts towards something more profitable. Sci-fi arcs that feel new and design philosophies that are guaranteed to be fun for the first time and the fiftieth once you get behind the wheel.

With Joe Staten out there, and with this new opportunity, I’m moderately optimistic about it. It’s not that hard for 343 Industries to figure out what’s good for their franchise, as they’re probably the first ones to miss the same thing as us (and we’re talking about half a thousand). Now, after reshaping the routing group later ten years of stumbling, we’ll see if the problem is with Ross, O’Connor and the others, or if it’s something higher up. Beyond Halo, it gives me that something is wrong when Xbox studios drag a lot of problems getting started with their projects.

With the flagship walking a tightrope and other major studios in creative uncertainty (how long will we have to wait to see Starfield, Everwild or Perfect Dark? Do we have big enough titles by the way?) perhaps the question isn’t “sprinting”. yes/no” else where decisions were made We understand Infinite’s PvP as making an Overwatch-style hero arena; or why the game was shown at that E3 2020. And why did they? This is really scary.