Microsoft’s New Halo Game Loses Top Director After Project Delay

Jason Schreier writes: Chris Lee, who oversaw production of Halo Infinite at 343 Industries, which is developing the game for Microsoft, is no longer working on it, he confirmed to Bloomberg News on Wednesday. Lee is the second top director on the project to leave in the past two years.

[AngainorG7X]

Just cancel it at this point however I do believe that Joe will save the title

[crazyCoconuts]

Cancel Halo Infinite?! Heretic!

[Bender6502]

I loved Heretic. Great game from yesteryear. But yes, cancel a Halo title that's sacrilege.

[The Wood]

I smell crackdown

Management has to be questioned both inside and outside 343

[Neonridr]

@Bender6502 - I enjoyed Hexen better.

[moonlitknight]

Witchaven was great too!

[UltraNova]

The fact that the game had to delayed by a whole year, this close to launch after all those years in development, and now losing another director paints a very clear picture of its status - and it ain't a good one, to say the least.

That said i don't doubt for a second that MS is going to allow its biggest Xbox asset to flounder like say Crackdown did. I sure they'll fix the game by next year or even delay it as need until they do.

[Christopher]

What? Cancel a game because a person who was probably set to leave anyway has left?

[RgR]

Cancelling is reaching but the point to take away is as follows.

Who leaves a team where they just finished creating something special?
I for one would stay to see what awesomeness we do next. However, if it looks like it is not reaching expectations and working on it has been a nightmare then I would have no problem resigning asap.

It speaks volumes that many key people are in and out of this project.

[KeenBean345]

Agreed. Reading the headline this sounds awful but when you actually know he's been off the project since the awful showcase in August it's not as they brought in Joe Statten, just sounds like he's surplus to requirements with Statten and Pierre now running things.

Halo 2 had a much much worse development cycle than this game and turned into a master piece so I hope this is what happens here. I really hope this game is good and can restore Halo to what it once was

[Christopher]

***Who leaves a team where they just finished creating something special?***

Someone who already had a job lined up elsewhere.

[Cueil]

If you have been paying attention this purge of many of the Halo 5 people has been going on for a while

[Atom666]

Won't happen.

All of the rumored issues with the game go back to scheduling, communication, and other director tasks. It's about damn time they cleaned things up in those roles. I know he stepped aside a couple of months ago, but this should have happened long before imo.

[Eamon]

There were also rumours that Infinite was almost set to be a "Live Service" game. I think Phil Spencer put a stop to that after the negative reception to the demo shown a few months back.

Joe Staten is a Bungie veteran and was part of the core team that provided the creative direction for the Halo trilogy. So it's not all bad news, and in some ways, perhaps good news.

[soulrebel]

You believe he will save it but you want it cancelled 🙃

[SpeedDemon]

Cancel the game of the year?
Non sense.

[lifeisgamesok]

Lol

[SullysCigar]

Lmao and what year would that be, exactly?

[neutralgamer1992]

delay the game until it's ready if it means 2022 so be it but fix the issues and make a master piece so people will forget the delays

[Knightofelemia]

@AngainorG7X

Cancelling Halo infinite will be a shot in the foot for Microsoft especially with the Series X and S coming out they need the title. They showed it off and made a promise that the game will arrive that would be like Nintendo showing off a new Metroid game get it half developed and then scrapping it. That would be a shot in the foot there as well if Nintendo did that and piss off a lot of fans and scare away sales of the Switch.

[CaptainHenry916]

Halo has been going downhill for so long now that it can never recover, better to escape this mess asap lol. Only Bungie can save it

[Father__Merrin]

It's definatly in development limbo now they started it as an xbox one title then lied during their reveal that it's been built ground up for series X. I think it's best if they just release it as it is halo is all about the gameplay anyways

[shabz666]

Nope nope. Let them cook it till it’s ready. I reckon this will be the final nail in 343 if they don’t deliver. The game is basically in development hell. I love halo and want it back at its best and hopefully they deliver. I’m sure the pandemic hasn’t made things easy for the team. Now that joe staten has come to help the team hopefully they can have a unified vision to what this game is. Sigh I miss halo

[Atticus_finch]

Just release it as is already. All the memes will be fire and xfans will pretend they love it.

[Abnor_Mal]

Like the fridge becoming reality, and now everyone claiming they love it and want one. Like that?

[darthv72]

Are you saying you wouldnt want a series x fridge? that thing is bad ass (even for a fridge)

[Abnor_Mal]

@darth72 I will say it looks good, but it doesn't look functional at all. All the food looked green like it spoilt and mold started to form. :)

[Critic4l_Strik3]

New Microsoft division...Series X fridges

[aconnellan]

The gameplay reveal was really widely hated by Xbox fans - no one wants to release it in its current state

[Gamist2dot0]

They should just release it as planned now otherwise it's going to need to delay another 2 years if they want to get it right.

[Pickledpepper]

Just like all the sony fans pretended to like TLOU2

[Atticus_finch]

I'm glad you brought up TLoU2, a game that looks better on ps4 than Haloi does on next gen console. OUCH!

[SmokinAces]

I wasn't pretending.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

It's one of the highest rated games of all time. Most people who complained about it were led by reactionary, political channels like TheQuartering that never even played it. Can't wait for it to get GOTY.

[sactownlawyer916]

This game is gonna be the Crackdown 3 of next gen. It won’t look anything like it’s reveal trailer.

[LordoftheCritics]

I just want Craig to stay craig'd.

[NEXUS-6]

They'll own that meme and make Craig a mini boss - or something along those lines.

[LordoftheCritics]

Craig should be the new cortana. Mumble..grumble..grrrr

[SmokinAces]

You have to hand it to Microsoft they do tend to embrace their shortcomings and dont seem to mind poking a bit of fun at themselves.

[Nodoze]

Sounds like this game needs some serious help. NOT good. I am a fan of Halo, and really hope they get this back on track with a quickness.

[Kaedro]

lol. This thing is a sinking ship and it hasn't even gone to the sea. But hey, there's always Game Pass right? Right?

[Mister_Wolf]

Well you know, you failed to deliver the game at launch. He was apparently sidelined weeks after the Craig debacle and Joe was bought in.

[whateverman]

This whole fiasco most likely boils down to complacency. "It's just another Halo game, let's just bang it out." Except it didn't work out the way they thought it would.

[SmokinAces]

And to your point of complacency what we might be seeing is the Gamepass effect here, people have suggested for some time now that Gamepass would make for dulled down versions of games, perhaps MS thought they could deliver a sub-par Halo experience tailor made for maximum profit with as little development effort as possible and weren't ready for the backlash once people saw it.

[AnotherGamer]

Just what's going on with this game.

[Father Murder X]

As a Halo fan this could be good news. However, I think a lot of the issues fall on the Xbox bosses. Where the hell were the quality checks and progress reports? 500 million dollars and years of work and no one bothered to ask or see what the hell was going on with one of the biggest franchises in the gaming industry. It’s the only thing that they are working on. Someone is going to have to take the fall for this debacle. The best thing is to push it back to holiday 2021 and release the entire game at the same time. None of this half now half later crap. I want my bread in one loaf.

[Elda]

Highly doubt they spent 500 million dollars.

[Bennibop]

I imagine this will delay the game further and will likely have a lasting impact on the game

[potatoseal]

Game is a dumpster fire.

Still can't believe MS fans were trying to defend the game and how it looked when they released that gameplay back when. What a laugh we all had.

The game has had development problems that's for sure. There is no way they would cancel this game tough. They will keep at it until it's fixed and I believe they will fix it. But it's going to be a GAAS game. So it will probably be average anyway.

[PlayStation47]

I love PlayStation because their loyal to the current platform and supporting Awesome 1st party games. If Microsoft can only release a handful of exclusive games the following are the titles that need to live on. Halo, Splinter Cell, Fable franchise Project Gotham Racing, and NFL Fever franchise. Seriously just focus on those titles. I want that feel again and future installments in those franchise. Another Forza game Please Microsoft read this and develop them. Don’t post anything about those above titles until about 3 months from launch

[Destiny1080]

when you have grass pop-in at 2 meters somebody needs to be fired

[Bathyj]

Infinite was the wrong title.
They should have called it
̶D̶u̶k̶e̶ ̶N̶u̶k̶e̶m̶ Halo Forever.
Directed by Alan Smithee.

[TheProblem]

“ Infinite was the wrong title”

Don’t know about that.

Infinite could mean the number of days in development

[Bahamut-Shin]

it'll be a miracle if this game succeeds

[Elda]

It looks like a Halo title won't release until 2 or 3 years from now.

[ufo8mycat]

No idea the fuss about Halo. It’s a generic outdated FPS.

[Bender6502]

The word 'leave' is open to interpretation though. Big companies rarely outright fire their top people, but when a major title doesn't live up to expectations, heads will roll. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

[Weapon_of_choice]

The first Halo was amazing, after that it gotten a bit bleh,

[SyntheticForm]

What a mess.

[Stanjara]

Brah!

[GOULDYBOBS]

I have rinsed Halo right from the beginning, but I cannot get motivated for this game. You shouldn't need to motivate yourself to play a game!

[execution17]

So lots of hire ups leave recently and now they add destiny 2 style of shaders 🤦‍♂️which pissed off a lot of halo fans

[medman]

Mo' Halo Mo' problems.

I got 99 problems and Master Chief is one.

[Petebloodyonion]

Can't says that this smell good for the game because it doesn't.
Now I still have hope that MS will make sure that the game meets the standards that ppl expect since a lot of Microsoft ride on the project.

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

Two leaders abandoning it?

[Ghostbob]

Bring in the crackdown 3 team they will fix it!

[DJStotty]

"Jason Schreier writes: Chris Lee, who oversaw production of Halo Infinite at 343 Industries, which is developing the game for Microsoft, is no longer working on it,"

Maybe because the game is nearly finished and just needs polish. I'm guessing quite a few are no longer working on it.

Amazing how much heat this article is generating lol.

[DaveZero]

Did the fanboys who hate anything MS even stop to think that maybe this director leaving has a meaning other than the game getting cancelled. It could mean many things one being MS may have another director ready to take place to deliver the game better. It could all be down to MS knowing that the game should of been in better condition and that they know the director who left made a mess up of things. So they simply go hire a new person to oversee the remainder of the work or heres another one, make the game better, these things do happen you know

[Dragonscale]

Xbox are useless. Their biggest ip and one game and they can't even get that right. No wonder they bought zeni max lol.

[anast]

This is very telling about where MSXBX is at. For some reason they struggle when it comes to making games. I see Xbox streaming service way before I see a quality new IP coming. I mean they can't even get their 15 year old franchise off of the ground.

[Smclaren1985]

Wow this game is heading to be a disaster😱 they really need to have a rethink on this one. Halo franchise used to be good but it lost its steam when bungie left

[akaFullMetal]

Another one? What's going on at 343?

[BenRC01]

Halo died when bungie left. This is gonna suuck which is a tragedy

[Bronbron92]

Hopefully this doesn’t end up like anthem lol

[System_Call]

Smells like Crackdown 3 spirit!

To even think that Microsoft wanted to release it this year. Wow. Very sad story. Xbox doesn't have anything interesting for its series x release.

[Promachos]

Microsoft.... just give it back to BUNGIE