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Outsourcing and TV to Blame for Halo Infinite Woes

Lone Wolf

Member
If it's as bad as it sounds in the Thurrott article ... is it even close to being a viable game? It almost sounds like they have next to nothing ...
It was probably a slapped together game with tired missions like,” destroy 3 bases” and “activate defense systems” and ”secure crash site.” With a light narrative put on top of that.
 
I was working when they first streamed Infinite and I overheard several coworkers talking about how awful it looked. Mind you these are diehard Xbox fans so that had me seriously worried. Then I saw the footage for myself and was absolutely stunned! I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out how Phil could have ok’d that gameplay reel in the condition it was in . I would have assembled the team immediately through video conference and heads would have rolled.
 

Deto

Banned
What the hell have they been doing for 5 years?

preparing Astroturfing and planning the FUD

If you get all the rumors about the PS5:

overheating,
last-minute overclocking,
production problems
Sony rushing to react to MS's "masterplan".
Sony underestimated MS.

EVERYTHING fits perfectly in the SX:

Console presentation with CG without date
The only gameplay is running on the PC.

it is kind of weird to imagine that there were so many negative rumors about the PS5, that fit perfectly if applied to the SX.
 

Grinchy

Banned
I feel like instead of outsourcing all the work for 5 years to come up with an unfinished turd that needs another 1-2 years anyway, it may have been smarter to just fucking hire a team that comes into an office and does the job together for a few years. They can communicate, share goals, ect.
 

McCheese

Member
The incompetent management must be thanking their lucky stars they can pin the blame on civid and milk some more money from the Microsoft udder. Nice guy Phil needs to sort shit out and get some resignations.
 
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Amiga

Member
So why haven’t the management been fired for this? Fuck ups like this do not go unpunished. Bonnie Ross gets a pussy pass I guess.

the current management is here because it sold the "low cost outsourcing" to upper executives. this not like the Peter Moor policy "fix it at whatever cost".
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Truly is hard understanding what the hell was going on for 5 years and how leadership at MS just keep it's head in the sand.

Poor Phil Spencer. He didn't have any budget before 2018 so he was unable to give 343 Industries the money they so desperately needed to make Halo great again. And then from 2018 onward he was heartlessly betrayed by the people he trusted with Microsoft's biggest IP, people who kept feeding him so many outrageous lies: ...that the game would be out in time for the Xbox launch, that Halo would run at 120fps, that it would be a next gen showpiece even though it had to run on the Xbox One S... It must be terrible to be in charge of Xbox for so many years now, still filled with the relentless drive to make your Xbox family proud, and realize that none of your dreams come to fruition because you're surrounded by incompetent idiots who sabotage your roadmaps every which way they can.
 

Clintizzle

Lord of Edge.
I'm still holding on to hope with this game but like every Xbox fan I'm ready to be hurt.

Crazy how you would outsource the FIRST gameplay demo in the most important showing for Xbox.
 
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343 is Phil's baby now. Who supervised that sudio when Matrick was the boss? Phil as general manager...

The man has sat by and done nothing while Xbox's biggest mascot goes straight to the gutter. But hey... if the Xbox hardcore want to continue to have blinders when it comes to the false prophet then let them...

Phil has as much blame if not more than Bonnie Ross. But it's easier to ask for Bonnie's head than daddy Phil.
 
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Cato

Banned
Well they would have had ray tracing at least.

:messenger_squinting_tongue:

I was thinking more like having the Coalition give them some help but that's just me.

Would the Coalition want that? Why would any studio want to become involved in what looks more and more like
a train wreck?

And why on earth did they ok this video and think that it would be received well? This is just CrackDown3 all over again.
There is no one there empowered enough that can stand up and say "hey guys, this is a joke. We are not seriously thinking about showing this to the public in this state?"
 
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sobaka770

Banned
Why would a development studio be delayed by a TV show? Does it mean that the whole development team was sitting idle while writers were deciding on how to make plot and lore for both? Why doesn't Microsoft treat Halo show as a totally separate thing, making it so much easier for everyone to deliver a good product? If they had so much time why are so many engine problems and technical debt not solved while game is in pre-production?

I have so many basic questions at this point... There is some serious management level problem here and I think the only reason why a huge shift isn't happening now is because the studio has to deliver Infinite. After that it's going to be a time for "restructuring" because such level of incompetence on the best XboX exclusive series is not acceptable in any way.
 

Dacon

Banned
I don't know if and when videogames will ever end, but if one day gaming disappears, there's one thing that will stay alive to the bitter end.

Bullshots.

Dude every single advertisement for any new menu item at a fast food join is literally a bullshot in motion.
 

Cato

Banned
Why would a development studio be delayed by a TV show? Does it mean that the whole development team was sitting idle while writers were deciding on how to make plot and lore for both? Why doesn't Microsoft treat Halo show as a totally separate thing, making it so much easier for everyone to deliver a good product? If they had so much time why are so many engine problems and technical debt not solved while game is in pre-production?

I have so many basic questions at this point... There is some serious management level problem here and I think the only reason why a huge shift isn't happening now is because the studio has to deliver Infinite. After that it's going to be a time for "restructuring" because such level of incompetence on the best XboX exclusive series is not acceptable in any way.

Oh, heads are gonna roll, for sure.
Remember, this was the premier launch title that was supposed to drive console sales.
They not only fucked up the game but they fucked up the launch of the entire line of next gen consoles.
 

Maxwell Jacob Friedman

leads to fear. Fear leads to xbox.
I kind of wish now they shipped it as is just to see the fuckery and how bad it could have been, curious I know. Hopefully they can fix it but this is starting to remind me of a crackdown 3 situation
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
I can't help but wonder how much of the information given or leaked to the reporter was an attempt at damage control. The dev had five years to make a Halo launch game for the most powerful console ever announced. They failed to accomplish the goal, and the game looked pretty bad, which many are attributing at least in part to the difficulty of making a cutting edge game for a 12 TF machine that also runs on Xbox One S.

And now we have a report that shifts blame from cross-gen and the dev, to outsourcing and a TV show. Rather convenient if you ask me.
They weren’t given 5 years to make a next gen launch title. They were given however long they needed to make an Xbox one title. Unfortunately for them that took so long that it’s now releasing on the Xbox one after the new gen comes out.
 

Maxwell Jacob Friedman

leads to fear. Fear leads to xbox.
I still think Phil needs to go, this reeks of piss poor management and a head of a company not checking up on their projects to make sure they are of quality. I cant remember the last quality title first party game they released, fucking hell.
 

Klayzer

Member
I still think Phil needs to go, this reeks of piss poor management and a head of a company not checking up on their projects to make sure they are of quality. I cant remember the last quality title first party game they released, fucking hell.
They actually have more than you think quality first party. Ori, Horizon, Gears Tactics, Flight Simulator just to name a few.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Sounds like a typical report given and played for clicks.

Saying at one point they had the idea to ship MP and SP separate is technically true but in reality it was never put past the what if phase.
 

OrtizTwelve

Member
What a total and colossal fuck up.

343 has always been an issue with Halo. Microsoft should just cede development to The Coalition, makers of Gears. Those games have been GREAT.
 
What I still don't understand is how and why the recent trailer was even approved and then hyped up by management at Xbox. I mean, they all saw it before we did right?
It’s in the original article: MS marketing are dumb and don’t listen to devs.
 
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mckmas8808

Banned
For what it's worth, one of the 343 guys is currently pushing back against this.





And Sams is in turn responding back:



Whatever the case, it's certainly going to be very interesting when the full story comes out.


This is so weird! Brad Sams (of all people) is going back and forth with a Xbox 1st party dev......and he's the NEGATIVE one of the bunch. I respect Brad a lot more now. Just reporting it as he understands it.
 

Camreezie

Member
It's almost like they should concentrate on making a game before caring about a tv series , the mistake theyve been making multiple times at this point
 
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Klayzer

Member
They aren't good developers. Even their ports take months of patches to iron out. MS needs to find another studio to hand this franchise off to.
When Microsoft finally does the inevitable "move into another direction" with Halo sans 343, they are going to kick themselves for how much money and prestige the franchise lost during the dark years. Clock is ticking 343.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
Discover hope trailer setting unrealistic hopes is all sorts of crackingly hilarious considering how many folks were saying it was the Xbox One X version and XSX version would look a lot better.
 
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