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Halo Infinite Lead Producer Has Left 343 Industries – Report (Update)

The executive producer of Halo Infinite Mary Olson has departed 343 Industries for a production position at a startup independent studio in the Seattle area.


Real talk her role has likely been completed as production on the game winds down, with a year to go the game is in technical phases right now, animations, sound design, Scarlett's build etc.

I know people like to make these things out to be more than they are, game development doesn't have a bus factor of one.



Update:
 
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Stuart360

Gold Member
Departing 343i and Microsoft employees caught on film -

source.gif
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
The executive producer of Halo Infinite Mary Olson has departed 343 Industries for a production position at a startup independent studio in the Seattle area.


Real talk her role has likely been completed as production on the game winds down, with a year to go the game is in technical phases right now, animations, sound design, Scarlett's build etc.

I know people like to make these things out to be more than they are, game development doesn't have a bus factor of one.


Hey welcome back.

I am still worried about Halo Infinite and thought these departures may not be a bad thing, nobody can look at them as being good. We can just hope it's neutral and has no effect on development.
 
Hey welcome back.

I am still worried about Halo Infinite and thought these departures may not be a bad thing, nobody can look at them as being good. We can just hope it's neutral and has no effect on development.
I'd say they're neither bad nor good, they're just not that relevant. This late in development the duties of these roles have basically been completed, I have no doubt Infinite right now can be played from beginning to end.

We're in technical phases, hell the game itself could be 100% complete simply waiting on Scarlett to release. People come, people go, for every person who has left (it's only been a few) they've hired several others.
 
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SpartanN92

Banned
I think we sometimes tend to look at these position movements a little too hard.
Maybe the startup company offered her more money? Better benefits? Shorter commute? Etc...

Sometimes these things have NOTHING to do with the product at all and are purely personal.
Or Halo is Dooooooomed
 
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I'm not sure if the departures mean anything, but the fact that the game has been in development for so long and there has been next to nothing shown worries me. A couple teaser trailers showing jack shit is not getting me jumping in my seat here. Devs going on twatter and informing us that "It's all good, nothing going terribly here.", or "I'm Stinkles and this is my favorite game on the citadel!"

Don't fuck this one up Bonnie.
 
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joe_zazen

Member
Wont know till game releases whether these things are nothing or warning bells. No need for spin either way.

i am guessing it is nothing as halo infinite is just like gears, big corporate product that will be competent. ms isn’t reinventing the wheel here.
 

Mista

Banned
Why is every departure is automatically a “disaster”? .. They might be done with their work, got a better job offer or the games development is a distasteful. Not necessary the first thing is a disaster
 

Zaffo

Member
Been doomed since the announcement, another feels infused woke entry to what once was a great gameplay focused series.
 

joe_zazen

Member
I think we sometimes tend to look at these position movements a little too hard.
Maybe the startup company offered her more money? Better benefits? Shorter commute? Etc...

Sometimes these things have NOTHING to do with the product at all and are purely personal.
Or Halo is Dooooooomed

most likely part ownership. That is how people like gabe newell became rich, early employees get stock. It is a gamble, but can payoff big tome.
 
I'm not sure if the departures mean anything, but the fact that the game has been in development for so long and there has been next to nothing shown worries me. A couple teaser trailers showing jack shit is not getting me jumping in my seat here. Devs going on twatter and informing us that "It's all good, nothing going terribly here.", or "I'm Stinkles and this is my favorite game on the citadel!"

Don't fuck this one up Bonnie.
I’d expect full reveal in June during E3 right after they unveil the new Xbox. They showed off the new engine and they showed an in-game cinematic. So I’m not sure what you might expect.
 
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DemeKnobb

Neo Member
Been playing Destiny 2 and the Ai is awful, not a patch on Halo(18years old) , so I guess Infinite is going to be like Destiny 2 with Halo lore, better Ai, strikes and raids etc and hopefully more. I'd be happy with that and I'd buy a Xbox for it.
 
I'm not sure if the departures mean anything, but the fact that the game has been in development for so long and there has been next to nothing shown worries me. A couple teaser trailers showing jack shit is not getting me jumping in my seat here. Devs going on twatter and informing us that "It's all good, nothing going terribly here.", or "I'm Stinkles and this is my favorite game on the citadel!"

Don't fuck this one up Bonnie.

Troubled development either leads to flawed masterpieces or to products like Anthem/Andromeda
 
I'm not sure if the departures mean anything, but the fact that the game has been in development for so long and there has been next to nothing shown worries me. A couple teaser trailers showing jack shit is not getting me jumping in my seat here. Devs going on twatter and informing us that "It's all good, nothing going terribly here.", or "I'm Stinkles and this is my favorite game on the citadel!"

Don't fuck this one up Bonnie.
They had to build a new engine you know...
 

dirthead

Banned
haha producers don't do anything.

What you really want to be worried about are lead artists, lead programmers, lead designers, etc.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
I'd imagine a lot of these people have been there since the beginning? If so, that will be 3 Halo games in a row. I imagine most people would want to move on after 3 games in a series.
 

Phase

Member
Still just waiting for gameplay video. As soon as I see that it will tell me everything I need to know.
 

Gargus

Banned
She probably left over feelings of sexual segregation, racism, homophobia, and sexual discrimination because they wouldn't let her make master chief a black trans lesbian woman. And that fighting aliens was nothing more than hate speech against illegal aliens in the country being treated poorly. Oh and a man there probably also smiled at her so she was emotionally and psychologically raped. And she wasn't making as much as the Male CEO of Microsoft so she was also being underpaid based on her gender. And she was on her period.
 

Starhowl

Member
Is this supposed to make me feel uncomfortable?

When it's "Goodbye, Halo!" then it's "Goodbye, Halo!" and I won't turn around and look back. *Shrugs*
 

Grinchy

Banned
To leave a high level position for a startup probably means you're not happy where you're at. She's probably bored of the source material she's forced to work on. The Halo characters and lore are pretty damn lame and making the same FPS over and over again can lead anyone to want to do something creative.

I have to imagine whenever we see high level people leave the console companies after a bunch of iterations of the same game, they're just burnt out on that one specific thing. And they know there's no way out because the owners want to continue selling what's known. And when that one thing you get to work on over and over again is a green metal suit guy, an incomprehensible story and a single player that consists of walking into rooms of enemies over and over again you probably don't want to be staring at that for 3+ years at a time.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
I'd say they're neither bad nor good, they're just not that relevant. This late in development the duties of these roles have basically been completed, I have no doubt Infinite right now can be played from beginning to end.

We're in technical phases, hell the game itself could be 100% complete simply waiting on Scarlett to release. People come, people go, for every person who has left (it's only been a few) they've hired several others.

100% complete game in this day and age? It would be a miracle. We are about a year out. I wanna have low expectations for Halo. I wanna be pleasantly surprised. Have they hired others for 343? I don't remember reading anything about this.

How long has Infinite been in development anyways?
 

Mass Shift

Member
I liked Solo better than Last Jedi, and Force Awakens to be honest. Rogue One is the best Disney SW film imo.

I agree with you on Rogue One being the best SW Disney movie. I'm so leery of anyone doing anything with SW now. I have no trust in Disney or any of the people they've chosen to work with.

I assume that Halo Infinite 's story is already written and that it probably comes down to its narrative execution. I don't know why all these people are leaving and it just might be creative differences behind it. But that's just me speculating to fill in the blanks.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
I hope the game doesn't suffer. I want 343 to step it up like The Coalition with Gears 5's campaign
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
My Halo campaign ranking

3 > 1 > 4 (I liked how the story focused on Chief and Cortana) Reach > Halo 2 > ODST > Halo 5
 

VAVA Mk2

Member
I'm not sure if the departures mean anything, but the fact that the game has been in development for so long and there has been next to nothing shown worries me. A couple teaser trailers showing jack shit is not getting me jumping in my seat here. Devs going on twatter and informing us that "It's all good, nothing going terribly here.", or "I'm Stinkles and this is my favorite game on the citadel!"

Don't fuck this one up Bonnie.

Halo was fucked from the first moment Microsoft let Bonnie Ross steer the franchise ship. She has used it as her own personal vessel to get her attention as a female activist in the gaming industry instead of someone who genuinely loved Halo and really understood what Bungie did to make it great and put that as the core focus and drive for projects they pursued. Halo Infinite is going to end the franchise. So sad as I really loved it.
 
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