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Halo Infinite - Game Overview Trailer

He was very much a lame duck at that time. It’s not hard to understand that dynamic if you have any knowledge of corporate structure and corporate politics.

The head of an entire business unit, solely responsible for publishing games (within a larger non-gaming company), did not hold any responsibility for the greenlighting of games?!?!

Are you fucking kidding me?!?!

If you believe that, I don't care what knowledge of corporate structure and corporate politics you think you have... you're fucking delusional!
 

VAVA Mk2

Member

It was originally 30,000 km in diameter but due to damage in an event while under control of the Primordial (last Precursor/first Gravemind and Medicant Bias), it was repaired and shrunk down to 10,000 km in diameter like the other rings in the 2nd array and was made the final ring in the 2nd array (the other rings being made and sent from the smaller Lesser Ark).

In addition, de-evolved humans kept on Zeta Halo by the Librarian were tested on for possible sources of Flood immunity (which later were turned out to be false), and, against the Librarian's will, the Didact composed human populations on Zeta Halo for use as "spirits" (also called Geas) in Promethean Knights in the final days of the Forerunner/Flood War to bolster the Didact's forces.

Geas of composed ancient humans are still on Zeta Halo stored in crystals underground and in what was once the Silent Cartographer for Installation 07.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
The head of an entire business unit, solely responsible for publishing games (within a larger non-gaming company), did not hold any responsibility for the greenlighting of games?!?!

Are you fucking kidding me?!?!

If you believe that, I don't care what knowledge of corporate structure and corporate politics you think you have... you're fucking delusional!
I didn’t say he didn’t have any say, but 100% had to get approval for any big decisions from senior leadership. Xbox was under the Windows arm at that time and was basically in life support mode with little to no actual power.
 
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IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


We recently kicked off our recap of the Halo series in chronological order, beginning with the story of Halo: Reach. Unlike Microsoft, however, we haven't forgotten about Halo Wars- which should really have come first, but, you know... better late than never, right? As the first game in the series' chronology, Halo Wars sets up some important things for future games, and here, we're going to talk about its events from beginning to end.

Halo Wars is set in the year 2531, about two decades before the fall of Reach and the subsequent events of Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the series. At this time, humanity has been under attack from the Covenant for about six years, with the fanatical collective of alien races hellbent on destroying the human race and completely wiping it out. The game's story focuses on the crew of the UNSC ship Spirit of Fire, which is led by Captain James Cutter, with other major characters in the ship's crew being the no-nonsense marine John Forge, and the ship's AI Serina.
 

Jack Uzi

Banned
Phil Spencer can do no wrong, he’s the chris brown of the gaming industry.

XzmoPk.gif
 

VAVA Mk2

Member
Phil Spencer can do no wrong, he’s the chris brown of the gaming industry.

XzmoPk.gif
Sure he can do wrong. Letting Bonnie Ross and Frankie stay at 343i as long as they have. They both should have been fired after Halo 5. Frankie's job is Franchise Development Director and he literally said after Halo 5 in an interview they don't know long term where things are going. That's what his purpose is.
 
Sure he can do wrong. Letting Bonnie Ross and Frankie stay at 343i as long as they have. They both should have been fired after Halo 5. Frankie's job is Franchise Development Director and he literally said after Halo 5 in an interview they don't know long term where things are going. That's what his purpose is.

Claims they deserve to be fired are based on such flimsy evidence it's sad. Did they actually mismanage the entire project, or did they just have a serious error in judgment in believing they could make launch and that there wouldn't be some backlash to the first footage, which btw I thought looked great technical issues aside. All signs point to Halo Infinite being a homerun for Microsoft. Multiplayer looks stunning, so does the last look we received of the campaign, and they're making the most ambitious Halo title ever from what I've learned and seen.

Nobody is perfect. Publicly known mistakes or errors are not automatic grounds for firing. They could be kicking all kinds of ass behind the scenes and really getting shit done in ways that many don't appreciate. This entire project isn't just suddenly coming together in only the last year. Much of what's amazing here has been in the works for years, so the last thing I'll do is use a one year delay (which came during a once in a generation global pandemic) and some technical issues/bugs in a few minutes of gameplay as a way of claiming all the years of work has been a waste. This entire game isn't being built in a year. Many decisions on game engine, personnel, game direction, design were made and in the process for years.
 
I didn’t say he didn’t have any say, but 100% had to get approval for any big decisions from senior leadership. Xbox was under the Windows arm at that time and was basically in life support mode with little to no actual power.

The head of game publishing for Xbox didn't need any approval from anyone senior for greenlighting games for MGS. He was the most senior exec at the company for the game publishing business. Anyone more senior than him doesn't know shit about gaming.

The MGS lead is given a budget for his gaming business. This is the way MS and virtually all US-based companies work. As the most senior exec of the game publishing business, the only thing he needs senior approval for is any expansion of that annual publishing budget. The final word on greenlighting projects falls exclusively to the head of MGS.

We're not talking about larger Xbox issues here. We're specifically talking about authority to greenlight gaming projects. As head of MGS, that was Phil Spencer's remit entirely.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
The head of game publishing for Xbox didn't need any approval from anyone senior for greenlighting games for MGS. He was the most senior exec at the company for the game publishing business. Anyone more senior than him doesn't know shit about gaming.

The MGS lead is given a budget for his gaming business. This is the way MS and virtually all US-based companies work. As the most senior exec of the game publishing business, the only thing he needs senior approval for is any expansion of that annual publishing budget. The final word on greenlighting projects falls exclusively to the head of MGS.

We're not talking about larger Xbox issues here. We're specifically talking about authority to greenlight gaming projects. As head of MGS, that was Phil Spencer's remit entirely.
You are just making stuff up now that you couldn't possibly have any idea about. He surely did have a budget and that budget was meager back then. So if not having enough in the budget to pay Bungie is the same to you as Phil making the decision than sure.
 
You are just making stuff up now that you couldn't possibly have any idea about.

Lol.. utter creamy BS.

You say this, and then follow up with this:

He surely did have a budget and that budget was meager back then. So if not having enough in the budget to pay Bungie is the same to you as Phil making the decision than sure.

Can you provide any proof of what Phil's budget was?

I never even claimed he didn't have the budget to pay Bungie. WTF are you talking about? I didn't claim anything about the MGS budget.

Bungie didn't leave MS because they weren't being paid, they bought their freedom from MS because they didn't want to just make Halo games forever and ever and ever. It's a well-documented fact.

Phil Spencer was head of MGS at the time, and therefore Phil was responsible for the decision to keep Bungie on Halo.

It's not even a bad thing either. Halo was MS's most important franchise and Bungie created the IP. There was no reasonable case for allowing Bungie within MS to make anything else unless they had already cultivated a sister studio to simultaneously work on Halo games alongside Bungie. Since that never happened, Bungie was forced to either stay at MS and continue making Halo, or breakaway and go independent. They chose the latter, while some of their employees who wanted to stay on Halo left Bungie and MS created a studio around them which ultimately became 343i.

This isn't new to anyone.
 
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Leyasu

Banned
MGS covers their 1st party studios as well as 3rd party publishing. If Phil was head of MGS, he was the one who decided which projects got greenlit and which didn't.
At the end of the day does it matter? I’m sure that Phil and everyone else involved are still kicking themselves for not publishing Destiny… If they really did turn it down or refuse Bungie.

I am sure that I read somewhere that bungie wanted independence no matter what though.
 
At the end of the day does it matter? I’m sure that Phil and everyone else involved are still kicking themselves for not publishing Destiny… If they really did turn it down or refuse Bungie.

I am sure that I read somewhere that bungie wanted independence no matter what though.

I'm arguing with the guy who claims Phil had nothing to do with Bungie going indie. That can't possibly be true.

I don't even disagree with the approach MS/Phil took at the time. It made the most business sense. Destiny was never going to be a 100% sure bet. While, at the time at least, Halo was one of the biggest gaming properties in the world.

Had 343i handled Halo better, MS wouldn't probably care about what Bungie went on to do. It's just that in this current timeline with the benefit of hindsight, it looks like they made a huge mistake letting Bungie go and palming Halo off to a newly formed, untested studio.

Well, at least they've stuck it out with 343i long enough for the studio to have a shot at producing something special with Infinite. Let's hope they deliver and that Halo finally gets in groove back.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Lol.. utter creamy BS.

You say this, and then follow up with this:



Can you provide any proof of what Phil's budget was?

I never even claimed he didn't have the budget to pay Bungie. WTF are you talking about? I didn't claim anything about the MGS budget.

Bungie didn't leave MS because they weren't being paid, they bought their freedom from MS because they didn't want to just make Halo games forever and ever and ever. It's a well-documented fact.

Phil Spencer was head of MGS at the time, and therefore Phil was responsible for the decision to keep Bungie on Halo.

It's not even a bad thing either. Halo was MS's most important franchise and Bungie created the IP. There was no reasonable case for allowing Bungie within MS to make anything else unless they had already cultivated a sister studio to simultaneously work on Halo games alongside Bungie. Since that never happened, Bungie was forced to either stay at MS and continue making Halo, or breakaway and go independent. They chose the latter, while some of their employees who wanted to stay on Halo left Bungie and MS created a studio around them which ultimately became 343i.

This isn't new to anyone.
jeff bridges opinion GIF
 
Sure he can do wrong. Letting Bonnie Ross and Frankie stay at 343i as long as they have. They both should have been fired after Halo 5. Frankie's job is Franchise Development Director and he literally said after Halo 5 in an interview they don't know long term where things are going. That's what his purpose is.
Bonnie Ross worked with Phil Spencer to convince Satya Nadella to give the Xbox brand more support. She may not have done great as a studio head but she sure helped the Xbox brand as a whole. For this alone I'm glad she wasn't fired.
 

YukiOnna

Member
Bonnie Ross worked with Phil Spencer to convince Satya Nadella to give the Xbox brand more support. She may not have done great as a studio head but she sure helped the Xbox brand as a whole. For this alone I'm glad she wasn't fired.
I am not doubting you, but is there a source on this? Curious to read more about it.
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
The cut scenes look a lot more interesting again, like they were in Halo 4.

The Bungie Halo’s had really fun core gameplay but the story segments were duuullllllll.
 
Phil Spencer wasn't in any position back then to pull the trigger on this decision, knowing Halo was their biggest franchise. You still haven't proven that he was.

OMG... He was the fucking head of MGS. That's a fact!

There's no-one else that would have had the authority or position to make the call on it.

If you think some other phantom unknown part of MS was responsible, the burden of proof is on you to prove it.

The head of MGS determines what games MGS publishes. How fucking hard is that to understand?
 

Helghan

Member
OMG... He was the fucking head of MGS. That's a fact!

There's no-one else that would have had the authority or position to make the call on it.

If you think some other phantom unknown part of MS was responsible, the burden of proof is on you to prove it.

The head of MGS determines what games MGS publishes. How fucking hard is that to understand?
The fact you think this was Spencer is laughable. It was their biggest franchise. This isn't decided by the person leading MGS.

Let's say 343i doesn't want to make Halo anymore. Do you think Matt Booty will just decide this, or might this go all the way to the top and Spencer will also have a say?

It's obviously the latter, just like it was back then.
 
The fact you think this was Spencer is laughable. It was their biggest franchise. This isn't decided by the person leading MGS.

Let's say 343i doesn't want to make Halo anymore. Do you think Matt Booty will just decide this, or might this go all the way to the top and Spencer will also have a say?

It's obviously the latter, just like it was back then.
Hopefully this puts an end to that poster, he/she are literally on a get Phil Spencer campaign or something 😂 grow up for gods sake.
 
I am not doubting you, but is there a source on this? Curious to read more about it.
I know I read it somewhere. It was a meeting when Spencer was trying to convince Nadella to invest more heavily into the Xbox brand. I recall it being a meeting with Ross, Spencer, Nadella, and a financial executive. It's possible I'm wrong but I could have sworn I saw that.

The fact you think this was Spencer is laughable. It was their biggest franchise. This isn't decided by the person leading MGS.

Let's say 343i doesn't want to make Halo anymore. Do you think Matt Booty will just decide this, or might this go all the way to the top and Spencer will also have a say?

It's obviously the latter, just like it was back then.
People just don't like Phil Spencer for some reason. I am a fan though. He embodies what I like about Xbox. The executives seem approachable and take time to answer fans questions. Thier social media team is always liking fans posts and responding to their comments. Jason Ronald answers questions about the Xbox on Twitter. Parris Lilly, a game fan, gets to host official Xbox presentations. Some people don't like that but I think it's awesome. I like company/fan interactivity.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


The road to Halo Infinite has been a bumpy one. It's gameplay debut with campaign footage last year was famously underwhelming, so much so that the widespread negative response to it drove Microsoft and 343 Industries to delay the game by an entire year.

Starting early this year though, 343 Industries had really started to turn opinion around, first with the encouraging details about multiplayer they unveiled at regular intervals – such as the battle pass system, their plans for seasonal content, and more – and then making a really strong impression with the game's first multiplayer beta, or technical preview, as they called it.

Of late, however, some skepticism has snuck its way back into the conversation around the game, with a few recent developments (or, in some cases, the lack of developments) that have raised some concerning questions. As it stands, there are reasons to be both excited and concerned about Halo Infinite, and in this feature, that's exactly what we'll be talking about.
 
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