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[Draugoth]

In an interview with the Guardian, Phil Spencer said significant growth in Xbox’s first-party studio line-up means once dominant franchises no longer need to be front and centre at every Xbox event (Gears of War was also notably absent from Sunday’s showcase).

I wouldn’t say Halo is of lesser importance, but we have over 20 studios now. l go back to the years where I had basically four games – Fable, Forza, Halo, Gears, the four horseman of the apocalypse. We have a lot more games now.

Spencer also said recent restructuring at developer 343 Industries was a factor in Halo skipping the show.

We’ve been pretty public about the leadership change at 343. You can kind of see that in some of the social things [the team have] been doing around seasons, but I don’t want to force them to talk about their longer-term vision until they’re ready. I think you’ll see some pretty cool things coming.

In a separate interview, Xbox Games Studios boss Matt Booty said 343 will continue to work on the Halo series going forwards, but that other studios may get involved in development too.

I feel confident in the leadership team, but the team that got us here is probably not the same team that’s going to take us forward

He told Axios.

 

[64bitmodels]

translation: "We gave halo to an incompetent team and reduced its brand value through a decade of mediocre games"

That being said if Halo is being downsized/reduced i'm fine with that. They need new blood rather than the same IP they've been riding for 10 years and ruining for the other 10.

 

[MrA]

Translation , we botched 2 of our biggest franchises, whoops

 

[Ansphn]

"I killed Halo with my own hands" - Phil Spencer

 

[Alebrije]

"I killed Halo with my own hands" - Phil Spencer

With a gear....now both are usseless

 

[SomeGit]

I don’t want it be that guy, but why would you call your historically 4 big IPs the four horseman of the apocalypse?

 

[mitch1971]

Translation: We have plenty of other games to ruin before we ruin Halo again.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I agree. Halo/Gears/Forza are not main pillars for Xbox anymore. Halo now can have enough time to cook and come out with something big - they don't need to push it anymore.

 

[Gaiff]

 

[Syphon Filter]

Only someone delusional would think Halo is still relevant. Halo died a decade ago.

 

[skit_data]

We’ve been pretty public about the leadership change at 343.

Whaaat, I thought Bonnie left due to family matters and everyone else just happened to get offered a better job? Whaaat?
/s

 

[feynoob]

Only someone delusional would think Halo is still relevant. Halo died a decade ago.

Syphon Filter​

yup

 

[feynoob]

I believe it regardless of this thread is clickbait.

Hes mismanaged Halo for a decade and seems to not give a fuck

Halo has little place in current dynamics due to FPS market change.
Unless it changes itself, I dont see it gaining its old relevence.

 

[Nautilus]

Yeah, that title is misleading. It could be that Halo is being "demoted" internally, but what Phil says makes more sense, and also is just common sense that we commoners can reach on our own: They have a shit ton of IPs to show now. And they all need time in the spotlight. You can't, nor need, to put Halo in every show.

Plus, a quieter time to rethink and refocus is what Halo needs now.

 

[tmlDan]

Phil sure does talk a lot.

Still waiting for actual evidence of these 20 studios and their quality when they actually release games.

Starfields up first!

 

[Draugoth]

Yeah, that title is misleading. It could be that Halo is being "demoted" internally, but what Phil says makes more sense, and also is just common sense that we commoners can reach on our own: They have a shit ton of IPs to show now. And they all need time in the spotlight. You can't, nor need, to put Halo in every show.

Plus, a quieter time to rethink and refocus is what Halo needs now.

Halo needs a reboot with Bungie Lore, Firefight and Spartans sv Elites,

 

[LiquidMetal14]

LMAO. The thread is a total none starter and this is what comes out of your mouth?

You think I have time when I just got out of work and have to run all these errands, I have two little ones and I read some of what was written and can interpret things for myself, you still think that I have time to invest that much at this very minute?

That isn't the case and it doesn't change my opinion and that's regardless of this misinterpreted thread title you can go read the other statements that the pr has said which my original statement does touch upon. Just shut your mouth and make games is that simple enough for you?

To be clear I'm referring to mentioning it to somebody like Phil or in general not to yourself so don't take that personal.

 

[feynoob]

Phil sure does talk a lot.

Still waiting for actual evidence of these 20 studios and their quality when they actually release games.

Why cant people bring their old work? Did that disappear in the mist?

 

[tmlDan]

Why cant people bring their old work? Did that disappear in the mist?

Redfall kinda ruined that, otherwise i'd agree

 

[feynoob]

Redfall kinda ruined that, otherwise i'd agree

Have you read the story of redfall?
That was the result of zenimax, the same people that made that mess of fallout 76. They were chasing the mtx trend and both games suffered badly from it.

Fallout 76 could have been a good, had they not made all these requirement. Same with redfall.

 

[Riky]

If they have nothing to show then they obviously shouldn't be at the showcase. The multiplayer is in a really good place now with a lot more content, will be interesting to find out how Certain Affinity are involved.

 

[Stuart360]

Have you read the story of redfall?
That was the result of zenimax, the same people that made that mess of fallout 76. They were chasing the mtx trend and both games suffered badly from it.

Fallout 76 could have been a good, had they not made all these requirement. Same with redfall.

Fallout 76 is a ton better now too, in fact you can almost play it like a traditional Fallout game now.
They could of saved themselves a lot of grief if it launched in its current state.

 

[tmlDan]

Have you read the story of redfall?
That was the result of zenimax, the same people that made that mess of fallout 76. They were chasing the mtx trend and both games suffered badly from it.

Fallout 76 could have been a good, had they not made all these requirement. Same with redfall.

And i also read that 70% of the staff left during development, they're basically not the same studio. I feel the same about other studios under Xbox banner until they release a game.

Thankfully Starfield looks great

 

[feynoob]

Fallout 76 is a ton better now too, in fact you can almost play it like a traditional Fallout game now.
They could of saved themselves a lot of grief if it launched in its current state.

But the problem was that zenimax needed the money. Its why they rushed that game fast.

And i also read that 70% of the staff left during development, they're basically not the same studio. I feel the same about other studios under Xbox banner until they release a game.

Thankfully Starfield looks great

They left it overtime and new people filled their position. That 70% represented the old team.
And again, Xbox had nothing to do with them. The only thing they had hands on was releasing that attracious game and removing it from PS.

 

[adamsapple]

And i also read that 70% of the staff left during development, they're basically not the same studio. I feel the same about other studios under Xbox banner until they release a game

You feel the same about studios under the Xbox banner because of something that didn't happen under the Xbox banner?

alrighty then.

 

[Riky]

Fallout 76 is a ton better now too, in fact you can almost play it like a traditional Fallout game now.
They could of saved themselves a lot of grief if it launched in its current state.

True, I just play it solo like Fallout 4 now, it's in good shape and even better at 60fps on the Series consoles.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

You know something, I've always kind of had this thing where I thought Halo was overrated but in the co-op especially split screen, I think it's right on point. And I actually liked infinite when it first came out but what really disappoints me is that they are lacking some of the features which I kind of learned to like the series a little bit more. Stuff like local split screen and proper co-op. The feel and look at the game isn't that bad so I'm kind of on the reverse and where I wasn't as big of a fan of the older stuff but I'm more of a fan of infinite. And I did buy the Master Chief collection on Steam day one to show the support.

 

[DeepEnigma]

"I killed Halo with my own hands" - Phil Spencer

I mean, Halo's worst games were under his watch.

 

[tmlDan]

You feel the same about studios under the Xbox banner because of something that didn't happen under the Xbox banner?

alrighty then.

They're currently under the xbox banner, and released a poor game, made excuses of a hands off approach people have been complaining about for years.

Also, we were talking about the studios historically (ie. Fallout 76) because feynoob brought that up. Regardless, it's okay to be skeptical because of recent performance, idc if they made a game they didn't want to that's not my problem

 

[Dr_Ifto]

Is this even a question? Though it would have been nice to see like upcoming season or something on infinite.

 

[Topher]

And i also read that 70% of the staff left during development, they're basically not the same studio. I feel the same about other studios under Xbox banner until they release a game.

Not accurate. That's just classic Schreier bullshit. What he said was 70% "of the people who worked on Prey were no longer there". Talking about a game that came out in 2017. He did the same shit when talking about Naughty Dog. We still have people thinking 70% of the devs left ND after TLOU 2 when it was actually a "whopping" 14 people. But other outlets reporting on his articles often get it wrong, just like this.....

Redfall Lost 70% of Its Arkane Austin Staff During Development, Struggled the Whole Way

Folks have to be careful reading Schreier's shit. He knows damn well what he is doing.

 

[PontiusFeeb]

Halo didn't need the screen time, but they have to trot out Sea of Thieves every single year even with all the other new studios and games to show? I don't think that's the real reason.

 

[Dick Jones]

I don’t want it be that guy, but why would you call your historically 4 big IPs the four horseman of the apocalypse?

Yeah, I'm glad someone caught that too. With the multiple gaffes by Spencer this year, it's obvious he is mentally clocked out, and it's only a matter of time before the elevator background music replaces him.

 

[tmlDan]

Not accurate. That's just classic Schreier bullshit. What he said was 70% "of the people who worked on Prey were no longer there". Talking about a game that came out in 2017. He did the same shit when talking about Naughty Dog. We still have people thinking 70% of the devs left ND after TLOU 2 when it was actually a "whopping" 14 people. But other outlets reporting on his articles often get it wrong, just like this.....

Redfall Lost 70% of Its Arkane Austin Staff During Development, Struggled the Whole Way

Folks have to be careful reading Schreier's shit. He knows damn well what he is doing.

That's still concerning regardless, if 70% of the Prey dev team left and redfall started dev in 2018 thats likely what created a poor product. If the people they hired weren't experienced in making MP games and wanted to make immersive sims i still can't say the new team is good at making that since they haven't released a product yet.

 

[clarky]

If they have nothing to show then they obviously shouldn't be at the showcase. The multiplayer is in a really good place now with a lot more content, will be interesting to find out how Certain Affinity are involved.

They did have something though. would have been perfect time to drop the season 4 trailer that just came out. Makes no sense.

 

[feynoob]

I don’t want it be that guy, but why would you call your historically 4 big IPs the four horseman of the apocalypse?

Times change. Some IPs need to sleep, otherwise they lose their flavors. Fatigue IP is real.
Unless you are Nintendo, you cant fork them like you want to.

 

[VolticArchangel]

He's not wrong to give the new team some breathing space, and finally after decades, the meme of Xbox being "Halo Forza Gears" dying.

It still is the flagship Xbox IP though. My guess is as good as any Halo fan that the remaining 343i will do Halo 7's campaign with new leads comprising of industry veterans, and 3rd party partners like Certain Affinity/Splash Damage etc, would handle the multiplayer going forward.

 

[X-Wing]

I honestly hope Phil Spencer gets booted out of Xbox. He sucks.
Also it's annoying to hear more bullshit from him every single week.

 

[deriks]

Why should have a Halo thing now anyway?

Infinite has a new already announced update, and people are still thinking about how to best this. Guess what? Takes time, guys

 

[The Tourmaline Gorilla]

Halo didn't need the screen time, but they have to trot out Sea of Thieves every single year even with all the other new studios and games to show? I don't think that's the real reason.

Then explain the lack of Gears? What about Gears tactics? Minecraft wasn't there either.

Sea of Thieves has more active players, currently, than Halo Infinite, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[CamHostage]

If they have nothing to show then they obviously shouldn't be at the showcase. The multiplayer is in a really good place now with a lot more content, will be interesting to find out how Certain Affinity are involved.

Yeah, I'm a little confused, this is the second or third post I've seen about Halo being "absent"...

I never had any expectation that Halo announcements were coming this year, whereas all the games Microsoft did show were the games I wanted and felt needed to be shown or represented given their time in the oven. That Certain Affinity project would be cool to see, or it'd be great to get some updates to Halo MP (of course, it'd really be something if there was a big map DLC for Infinity that actually delivers on what I thought the "Infinity" of the game was going to be... but that's my imagination, they said they're not doing that.) But just this franchise not being there because it's a big Xbox franchise and this was a big Xbox show? I mean, sometimes Mario doesn't show up in Nintendo events (...ok, probably Mario ALWAYS shows up somewhere at Mario events, but sometimes it's just to run a 100-Yard-Dash or to get vanquished by Sepirorth or to throw pills at virus monsters,) and that's fine, other stuff is cool too.

 

[diffusionx]

Halo didn't need the screen time, but they have to trot out Sea of Thieves every single year even with all the other new studios and games to show? I don't think that's the real reason.

The real reason is that Halo isn't a top-tier, or even second-tier franchise, anymore. They keep showing Sea of Thieves because, well, Sea of Thieves is probably more important to them than Halo. I'm not sure old boomer gamers fully understand what a hash MS made of Halo. They completely destroyed it. Obviously that doesn't mean they bin it forever, but it does mean it's not the focus of their company and marketing the way it was from 2000-2020.

 

[bluecowboys]

The real reason is that Halo isn't a top-tier, or even second-tier franchise, anymore. They keep showing Sea of Thieves because, well, Sea of Thieves is probably more important to them than Halo. I'm not sure old boomer gamers fully understand what a hash MS made of Halo. They completely destroyed it. Obviously that doesn't mean they bin it forever, but it does mean it's not the focus of their company and marketing the way it was from 2000-2020.

Halo Infinite is more popular than Sea of thieves, ESO, and Fallout 76 on Xbox. I just think this new update isn't as big as season 3 update.

Source:

Most played games - Microsoft Store

 

[The Pleasure]

Syphon Filter​

yup

That's the name of my Vape pen! Good ol Syphon Filter.

 

[hemo memo]

? This doesn’t make sense. Even if you have 100 studios. People are expecting to see one of your biggest franchise in your big reveal. This is like if Nintendo had a major Direct with all studios games and they don’t show Mario because they have too many studios.

 

[Bond007]

This guy talks alot. Really- they still only have four games as of today.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Don't worry guys! I read that Season 2 of the TV show is confirmed!
You'll still get your Halo fix!

 

[Topher]

That's still concerning regardless, if 70% of the Prey dev team left and redfall started dev in 2018 thats likely what created a poor product. If the people they hired weren't experienced in making MP games and wanted to make immersive sims i still can't say the new team is good at making that since they haven't released a product yet.

The team that made Prey wasn't necessarily experienced in making MP games either. That's my point. He just drops this 70% of that team left without any other details. Hell, he makes it sound like 70% of the building was just empty. I'm just saying Schirer isn't a trustworthy source for this shit because it is all for the sake of self-promotion.

 

[darrylgorn]

Translation: That's not how you spell Starfield.

 

[Kokoloko85]

I think the move to make is give it to Doom studio