One of the big news stories going around yesterday was a report from Thurrott suggesting that Halo Infinite might have been suffering from significant turbulence behind the scenes - and now the Community Director at 343 Industries has stepped in to debunk some of those claims on social media.
To start with, 343 Industries issued a statement to IGN about the Halo TV series for Showtime, which allegedly had been a "significant distraction" for management behind the scenes.
In response, the developer explained that the two projects were completely separate:
"343 Industries has a devoted transmedia team that is working with Showtime on the creation and production of the Halo TV show. This group is separate from the Halo Infinite development team. These are two completely independent projects with dedicated teams and leadership that do not impact one another."
Something that was also mentioned in the report was the idea that Halo Infinite's multiplayer might have been released separately to the game's single-player campaign - something Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently confirmed had been a late consideration during a recent interview ahead of delaying the game to 2021.
However, it was claimed by Thurrott's Brad Sams that the idea of separating the game has persisted for around a year-or-so - and back in July, he shared a tip from a source that suggested Halo Infinite might have released without multiplayer at launch.
In retort, Community Director Brian Jarrard explained this was never intended to be the case:
Ok, normally I/we don't even entertain this kind of stuff. But seeing as I'm partially implicated here, I'm going to address the part where he claims Phil Spencer validated his prior reporting even though I (343) denied it.
"The "reporting" at the time said "MP would not be shipping with single player this Fall." For a hot minute it was creating a storm on social until I chimed in to debunk it. The tweet that made that claim was then deleted.
Phil Spencer went on "Animal Talking" recently and while discussing the Infinite shift to 2021, did mention that separating MP and Campaign was briefly considered before the decision was made to shift it all to next year.
These are not the same things. At all.Sams' unsubstantiated "report" in late July was 100% false and no such plan or discussion had ever happened. Campaign was never going to ship without MP, period.
More recently, as it became clear that the project needed more time, part of that assessment did entail trying to see if perhaps just MP could launch as planned but was deemed a non-starter. So even if that would've been the outcome, it's the opposite of what was reported in late July.
People can, and will, make up whatever stories they want but I have to draw the line at being personally implicated as being dishonest with the community. I may not always be allowed to say what I want to say (for example I'm probably not allowed to really get into a point by point response to this article), but I will always speak the truth."
The one major part of the report that Jarrard hasn't responded to relates to claims of Halo Infinite being significantly outsourced to third-party contractors, with one "insider" reportedly indicating that the rate of outsourcing is higher than usual on Infinite, and has caused "significant headaches for cross-development collaboration."
What do you make of this? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source reddit.com]
Comments 10
I dismissed the rumors about outsourcing yesterday not because I think they are not true, but because it is actually far more common that almost any of is tends to realize.
Outsourcing in the gaming industry, especially in Triple A games, is a norm, and it would only ever become a problem if the internal coordinators are not good at handling their task, or if such coordination positions are under-staffed. That is something that could be true, but it’s also always a risk on every industry.
If outsourcing coordination was an issue, I am sure they would had known about it far ahead of the gameplay reveal.
@Tharsman Too much of a big deal is being made out of it because Halo is such a big franchise, under the spotlight.
343i have certainly had some issues and some of it could indeed be down to some co-ordination and management mistakes, but they aren't shying away or sitting in denial about it either, so I think the media needs to move on from it.
Good to hear from the source that it's false. Hopefully, the devs will be able to change what they need to change without going through too much crunch...
You know, I been giving this some thought and I honestly don’t think it would be a bad thing if Halo MP and Campaign were split into separate games entirely. Not at this point, though. Such a thing would have had to be a very early announcement, but I honestly feel both aspects of the game could benefit from being independent, sharing resources and assets but for the most part done by separate teams.
@Tharsman I've been thinking that too. Drop the f2p Multi-player in Spring, re-reveal the campaign E3 time next year then release as a big holiday 2021 game. I know not everyone would be happy with that but it would give them ample time and people would still have their Halo fix throughout the year.
One thing I know is 100% true, is that I do not envy Ske7ch's job.
@Jaxx420 I completely agree!
As long as the game is great when it’s released, I don’t care about all this nonsense. Just give 343 the time they need to finish/polish the game properly.
This rumor completely confounded me.
Where would someone get the idea that a code monkey's job would be impacted by Showtime making a television show?
@Alpha-2002 just because they are denying things doesn't make them untrue. They have lost my trust. It isn't exactly like Sam's is some internet weirdo. I believe he is informed on the things he is talking about.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...