Halo Infinite Creative Director Leaves Company [Update: Lead Producer on Campaign leaves as well]

modiz · Aug 16, 2019

A creative director leaving a year and a half from launch? Woah.
I get leaving like 4 months max before because by then its mostly bug fixing and less content adjustment that needs proper creative direction, but this far out a ton of stuff can change, and at the same time this should be the critical phase of the project. Hopefully they can still pull it off though.

HebrewHammer · Aug 16, 2019

I work in advertising and not game development, so the comparison might not be apples-to-apples here, but...

Last time a Creative Director departed, it spelled bad news internally.

Deleted member 9135 · Aug 16, 2019

Without context, this is hardly newsworthy. What are we to do with this information?

Right now, the whole thing stinks of click bait.

Deleted member 15428 · Aug 16, 2019

Toumari said:
Well that doesn't sound too good.

Why?

Prime2 · Aug 16, 2019

Am I misreading that article or does it sound like they offered him a different role and he decided to leave ?

Odesu · Aug 16, 2019

Servbot24 said:
Copied from the duplicate thread:

It's not a safe assumption that it's a sign of issues. Turnover happens every single week at large companies. Admittedly it's less common with Directors, but even so the change could be for any number of reasons.

While it's neat to appreciate the individuals working on games, I wouldn't be able to draw anything meaningful from this information.

Gonna follow you and also gonna copy this from the duplicate thread :D

The Creative Director first getting assigned a new role and then leaving the company a few weeks later, with one of the executive producers assuming a bigger role in the development is absolutely a sign that things are not going as planned. This could be negligible or even beneficial in the long run, but the Director of a game he already worked on for close to four years doesn't just lose his position and then leave the company if development goes smoothly.

Chris McQueen · Aug 16, 2019

Everyone is leaving this week, it seems.

Kolx · Aug 16, 2019

Longo, an industry veteran who also served as creative director for Halo 5, had moved to a different role a few weeks ago, according to two people familiar with goings-on at 343. This week, he left the company entirely.

This's interesting...

Mack said:
So it's safe to assume that the core gameplay/structure is finished and all the remaining time to launch will be spent on tweaks and making sure the experience is as pretty and flawless as it's possible.

Could be, but could also mean the studio is going full on crunch mode for the next 15 months rebuilding the campaign and fixing as much as they can. The fact he changed position (if you're a creative director that must mean a downgrade which means he was probably forced) makes me feel MS wasn't happy with the product and wanted an immediate change.

BizzyBum · Aug 16, 2019

I mean, Infinite is going to have a TON of tools at its disposable to be a mega hit that Halo 5 did not have.

- Day 1 Game Pass for Xbox One, Scarlett, and PC already means millions of people having access without buying it right off the bat
- Play Anywhere functionality
- twitch / Mixer streaming is everything now. Tons of high profile PC streamers like summit, shroud, Doc, Ninja, etc. will be playing the PC version giving it insane exposure at launch
- Much longer development time to get things right
- Brand new, next-gen engine

For this game to bomb, 343 would have to fuck up on historical proportions.

JaggedSac · Aug 16, 2019

Prime2 said:
Am I misreading that article or does it sound like they offered him a different role and he decided to leave ?

You are correct. Except it doesn't sound like they offered him the new role, instead, told him he had a new role other than creative director.

christocolus · Aug 16, 2019

I wish Tim the best.. He was responsible for introducing squad/co-op to Halo 5s campaign and It seems many Halo fans didn't like that but I thought it was great though... Hope we see more of the game at XO19.

Senor Spielbergo · Aug 16, 2019

Longo, an industry veteran who also served as creative director for Halo 5, had moved to a different role a few weeks ago, according to two people familiar with goings-on at 343. This week, he left the company entirely.

So it seems like he got moved, didn't like his new role so he left.

Prime2 · Aug 16, 2019

JaggedSac said:
You are correct. Except it doesn't sound like they offered him the new role, instead, told him he had a new role other than creative director.

Which without the full details could be for a variety of reasons so the reactions so far in this thread seem a bit much

Bryo4321 · Aug 16, 2019

SunBroDave said:
This, combined with the fact that we saw basically nothing of the game at E3, points to some troubled development on this project for sure. Things are clearly not in a great place.

It doesn't really mean much of anything, the game is still very far off, and we saw an in game in engine cutscene.

There is nothing that points to the game CLEARLY not being in a good place.

IHaveIce · Aug 16, 2019

Lol people with the doom and demise already.

Triggerhappytel · Aug 16, 2019

SunBroDave said:
This, combined with the fact that we saw basically nothing of the game at E3, points to some troubled development on this project for sure. Things are clearly not in a great place.

It doesn't suggest that clearly at all. You're adding two things tangentially related and arriving at a presupposition.

Completely Anonymous · Aug 16, 2019

That cannot be good ...

Bulby · Aug 16, 2019

BizzyBum said:
I mean, Infinite is going to have a TON of tools at its disposable to be a mega hit that Halo 5 did not have.

- Day 1 Game Pass for Xbox One, Scarlett, and PC already means millions of people having access without buying it right off the bat
- Play Anywhere functionality
- twitch / Mixer streaming is everything now. Tons of high profile PC streamers like summit, shroud, Doc, Ninja, etc. will be playing the PC version giving it insane exposure at launch
- Much longer development time to get things right
- Brand new, next-gen engine

For this game to bomb, 343 would have to fuck up on historical proportions.

Its not really about the game bombing, the game will do fine whatever happens.

Its about the game being a true wow moment for Xbox.

CRIMSON-XIII · Aug 16, 2019

I was concerned when they did not show the campaign at this E3. Aside from that cutscene.

Hikari · Aug 16, 2019

That's not good to hear....

Proven · Aug 16, 2019

The concern trolling is fun

zedox · Aug 16, 2019

JaggedSac said:
So he was told to take a new role, didn't like the new role, and then left?

Basically this.

Triggerhappytel · Aug 16, 2019

Somewhatgroovy said:
Without context, this is hardly newsworthy. What are we to do with this information?

Right now, the whole thing stinks of click bait.

Bullshit. It's a very dry article with no opinion and reporting only the facts. It's not sensationalised and it's backed up by a statement from the publisher, so how is it clickbait?

Reformed Individual · Aug 16, 2019

BizzyBum said:
I mean, Infinite is going to have a TON of tools at its disposable to be a mega hit that Halo 5 did not have.

- Day 1 Game Pass for Xbox One, Scarlett, and PC already means millions of people having access without buying it right off the bat
- Play Anywhere functionality
- twitch / Mixer streaming is everything now. Tons of high profile PC streamers like summit, shroud, Doc, Ninja, etc. will be playing the PC version giving it insane exposure at launch
- Much longer development time to get things right
- Brand new, next-gen engine

For this game to bomb, 343 would have to fuck up on historical proportions.

It's 343, they just have to do what they normally do for them to fuck up.

BizzyBum · Aug 16, 2019

Bulby said:
Its not really about the game bombing, the game will do fine whatever happens.

Its about the game being a true wow moment for Xbox.

Yeah, I don't think it will bomb either. That's practically impossible, and I'm sure the game will look stunning on Scarlett and PC so they will have their wow moment but the gameplay still needs to be good, especially the MP where they need to retain their playerbase.

Proven · Aug 16, 2019

I'll have to wait and see what the game is before I make any quick judgments.

FarSight XR-20 · Aug 16, 2019

What is the role of the creative director exactly ? Does he work on the story of the game too ?

RedSparrows · Aug 16, 2019

The sky is falling
Bawooahwaaoowaaoowaaa
Huuumannsss something something something
Waowaowaowah waowah

Kolx · Aug 16, 2019

Proven said:
The concern trolling is fun

Some of you are getting really defensive in here. This could mean nothing, but in general changing the creative director a year before release isn't a good sign. People said the same thing with Anthem and nobody accused them of doing it just for concern trolling.

DocH1X1 · Aug 16, 2019

JaggedSac said:
You are correct. Except it doesn't sound like they offered him the new role, instead, told him he had a new role other than creative director.

This, just nobody bothered to read the article before their canned responses.

christocolus · Aug 16, 2019

zedox said:
Basically this.

Maybe he wanted squad based gameplay again in Halo Infinite ?

Deleted member 57361 · Aug 16, 2019

BizzyBum said:
I mean, Infinite is going to have a TON of tools at its disposable to be a mega hit that Halo 5 did not have.

- Day 1 Game Pass for Xbox One, Scarlett, and PC already means millions of people having access without buying it right off the bat
- Play Anywhere functionality
- twitch / Mixer streaming is everything now. Tons of high profile PC streamers like summit, shroud, Doc, Ninja, etc. will be playing the PC version giving it insane exposure at launch
- Much longer development time to get things right
- Brand new, next-gen engine

For this game to bomb, 343 would have to fuck up on historical proportions.

This won't help if the game turns out to be bad.

pswii60 · Aug 16, 2019

ActWan said:
I guess he is going to The Initiative.

What makes you say that? Microsoft's statement indicates he's left Microsoft altogether.

Dust · Aug 16, 2019

Huh, why?

kung-fu-owl · Aug 16, 2019

Kolx said:
Some of you are getting really defensive in here. This could mean nothing, but in general changing the creative director a year before release isn't a good sign. People said the same thing with Anthem and nobody accused them of doing it just for concern trolling.

No.

People are not being defensive about concern trolling when that's blatantly what's happening.

Turnovers happen. Even at this level.

Cyberpunk 2077 is probably the biggest game of 2020 and it's CD left over a year before the game is due to be out. Sky's not falling there. How strange.

Deleted member 18944 · Aug 16, 2019

FarSightXR50 said:
What is the role of the creative director exactly ? Does he work on the story of the game too ?

Creative Directors are responsible for the vision of the game and making sure that the design teams meet that vision. Neil Druckmann and Miyamoto are two iconic creative directors responsible for beloved series.

Edit: fixed a typo because apparently that's the focus of this post.

Proven · Aug 16, 2019

I am more interested to see if Infinite gets a beta of sorts soon. Halo 5 had a beta in January of the year they released, and 343 has made it clear they want actual betas for their games and not just demos. So it would make sense if we had a beta in the next 6 or so months.

Deleted member 9135 · Aug 16, 2019

Triggerhappytel said:
Bullshit. It's a very dry article with no opinion and reporting only the facts. It's not sensationalised and it's backed up by a statement from the publisher, so how is it clickbait?

It was sensationalized on twitter by Jason Schrier himself. BREAKING NEWS!!!! and now we have two threads with a lot of noise. It is bullshit, I agree.

DocH1X1 · Aug 16, 2019

kung-fu-owl said:
No.

People are not being defensive about concern trolling when that's blatantly what's happening.

Turnovers happen. Even at this level.

Cyberpunk 2077 is probably the biggest game of 2020 and it's CD left over a year before the game is due to be out. Sky's not falling there. How strange.

I was literally about to post this. And Anthem had a well documented troubled development as noted by no less than Kotaku which we have zero reason to believe that here. So yes when someone says this is Anthem yes it comes across as concern trolling period.

BossAttack · Aug 16, 2019

Omnipotent said:
I see we're already at the pearl clutching and sky is falling phase. Especially with people namedropping anthem, as if the creative lead on Anthem was the problem with the game, not that the project was mismanaged for years and the actual game came together in 6 months.

Never change Era

I mean, that tends to happen when the Captain of your ship leaves.

Angie · Aug 16, 2019

Darkstorne said:
Has this ever worked out well..?

It worked out for UC4.

ArchedThunder · Aug 16, 2019

Mack said:
So it's safe to assume that the core gameplay/structure is finished and all the remaining time to launch will be spent on tweaks and making sure the experience is as pretty and flawless as it's possible.

Possible, they said they want to avoid crunch on this game.

SunBroDave said:
This, combined with the fact that we saw basically nothing of the game at E3, points to some troubled development on this project for sure. Things are clearly not in a great place.

CRIMSON-XIII said:
I was concerned when they did not show the campaign at this E3. Aside from that cutscene.

Post Halo 2 they have never shown gameplay more than a year before launch

TibimusPrime · Aug 16, 2019

Kolx said:
This's interesting...

Could be, but could also mean the studio is going full on crunch mode for the next 15 months rebuilding the campaign and fixing as much as they can. The fact he changed position (if you're a creative director that must mean a downgrade which means he was probably forced) makes me feel MS wasn't happy with the product and wanted an immediate change.

Best plausible theory tbh.

Shpeshal Nick · Aug 16, 2019

Oh well, guess we should all expect a disaster from Halo and Cyberpunk next year right?

Deleted member 2229 · Aug 16, 2019

BossAttack said:
I mean, that tends to happen when the Captain of your ship leaves.

It was pretty clearly outlined that there were a million other issues that led to Anthem being the way it is. To lay it all on the creative director leaving is pretty ridiculous.

Asbsand · Aug 16, 2019

Secretofmateria said:
Oh no, i hope this doesnt drastically fuck things up

How is it not going to do that. We've seen what this kind of change leads to before (Mass Effect: Andromeda).

My expectations were low anyway. at least we're getting Halo Reach on pc.

Dabi3 · Aug 16, 2019

Yikes.

nib95 · Aug 16, 2019

Hopefully the game is still an ambitious re-invisioning of the franchise, and not something too safe or too iterative.

Kolx · Aug 16, 2019

kung-fu-owl said:
No.

People are not being defensive about concern trolling when that's blatantly what's happening.

Turnovers happen. Even at this level.

Cyberpunk 2077 is probably the biggest game of 2020 and it's CD left over a year before the game is due to be out. Sky's not falling there. How strange.

Turnover doesn't work like that when the article indicates he was removed from his position a mere year and not left for personal reasons.

As for CY2077 there was some concern, not at the same level but that's probably because one studio made the witcher 3 and the 2 amazing dlc before CY2077 while the other made Halo 4 and 5 which both didn't have the best received campaigns to say the least.

Klobrille · Aug 16, 2019

Hobbes said:
Creative Directors are responsible for the vision of the game and making sure that the design teams meet that vision. Neil Druckmann and Miyamota are two iconic creative directors responsible for beloved series.

Neil Druckmann and "Miyamota" (he is called Miyamoto) in one sentence. What a time to be alive.

JaggedSac · Aug 16, 2019

BossAttack said:
I mean, that tends to happen when the Captain of your ship leaves.

He wasn't the captain, more like the quarter master.

Chris Lee is the captain.

Halo Infinite Creative Director Leaves Company [Update: Lead Producer on Campaign leaves as well]

Self-requested ban

alt account

Prophet of Truth

One Winged Slayer

Prophet of Regret

User requested account closure

C H A O S

Alt account

User requested account closure

Best Avatar Thread Ever!

Uncle Beerus

User requested account closure

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks