Bungie Veteran Appointed As Project Lead For Halo Infinite's Campaign

Staten was the writer of the old Halo games, so this could be huge. Hopefully, he hasn’t lost his touch.

Now all we need is Marty O’Donnell back & we are set! 👍🏻 😁

Awesome! The more Halo veterans the better!

After these latest recruitments, I'd be shocked if the game was to ship any earlier than May, giving them at least an extra 6 months.
Wouldn't be a shock to see it having a full 12 months extra tbh...

Progress ! That's great news

Bringing in this high a Project Lead at this stage? Makes me think Halo is going to be much further out than is being let on.

Halo late 2021 at this rate.

I know I'm a broken record at this point, but bringing in extra studios with Halo experience, bringing in Halo vets in leadership roles, and appointing other leadership roles at such a late stage just proves 343i aren't in a strong position as a dev and screams that there was more wrong with Infinite than just awkward visuals. And that product was almost shipped to paying customers.

Certain Affinity and Staten are hugely talented, but I'm cautious about how much they can fix in 6-12 months.

Wow! Considering this game was originally meant to launch in just over two months this is crazy.
Obviously great for the project overall and clearly the right decision to delay the game. That aside this just speaks of the overwhelming case for absolute mismanagement at 343i. Microsoft need to let them go at this point...

It's good news obviously bringing him on board, but the game as others have said must be a good 9 -12 months from release at least as we stand....
This will certainly not be releasing in the first half of 2021...

These are all good news. However, these news also prove that 343 Industries wasn't a complete studio and that they lacked a competent leader, at least for leading the Halo franchise which is what they work on. They needed someone not just for the campaign but also for the multiplayer component. I'm happy that Microsoft or 343 Industries finally realised, better late than never but even I, no Halo expert, see what's going on. I'm optimistic about the final product, though. It might be the best Halo game ever. We'll see.

Anything that can help to make halo better is welcome. Surprised that a game that was too launch in a few months has had this happen to it. Shows that Xbox took there eye off the ball, considering it’s Halo. Will def be getting it whenever it releases.

While this is a step in the right direction I guess, also makes it seem like this isn't going to hit until late 2021 perhaps. Game was supposed to come in a couple months now a new lead is in place. Hopefully for fans sake they do split it up and at least get the MP out there early next year.

One of the original Bungie writers? Flood confirmed. It's doomed.

@KelticDevil This! So much this! Marty is the sound of Halo, and it doesn't matter how great any other composer is, it's just not Halo without Marty!

@BlueOcean Exactly that. You don't go from "this is shipping in November" to "ohai original series producer, get in there and FIX IT FAST!!! AND HIRE EVERYONE ELSE TOO!!!" This wasn't just a knee jerk reaction to the internet, apparently, the game was a shipwreck apparently beyond graphics.

I'm really starting to back away from Spencer though. He was the most fun and involved of the industry leaders. He's either a far more casual liar than I thought, or he doesn't have his hands on the reins at MSGS. It almost makes me appreciate Nintendo's "faceless corporation" approach.

7/21/20: "the best launch lineup position" they've "ever been on Xbox", "strength and depth of the games that people are going to be able to play day one on Xbox Series X", "we also have Halo. The last time we had Halo at the launch of a console was 2001. And we feel really good about Halo.”

8/13/20: HI Delayed: “We made the decision late last week - and I say we, Bonnie Ross who runs 343, Matt Booty who runs our first party studios organization and myself, and they came with some options, the things that we could do, maybe parts of the game we could ship on given dates, and it just didn't feel to all of us like the Halo release that we would want.”

8/27/20: Bungie vet appointed as project lead, and tons of other hiring.

Huh? In 2 weeks he went from feeling really good about Halo to knowing it's best to delay it indefinitely and hire like mad, and in 4 weeks they're appointing one of the original designers to take over the campaign entirely? Either Phil was lying to everybody with his "we feel really good about Halo" bit with a straight face - or Phil has no idea what's going on beneath him....both are pretty worrying as to Phils credibility and capability.

Add that to all the various back peddling going back to not believing in generations (back during early X1X days) to the focus on generations, not forcing next gen on everyone and supporting current gen to stripping the current gen support from nearly every game, quietly, after the July presentation. Phil SAYS many great things, but they don't seem in any way connected to what actually is happening.

@Olliemar28

Marty & Bungie had a falling out, so I was just thinking the guy may need a job......

But, to your point, Halo does have great music even to this day without Marty.

@NEStalgia Yes, Microsoft backed down about Xbox One support, I realised during the July Game Show and I have written some comments about this. Regarding if Phil doesn't know or lies, I think neither. Not supporting Xbox One is a natural progression that makes everything simpler and I'm sure that the Xbox Game Studios asked for it and Microsoft just accepted it. Phil seems honest but also polite and easy-going and he likely had concerns about Halo Infinite but he was told that they were polishing the game.

After the internet backlash, 343 Industries admitted that they aren't capable of handling the game up to fans' standards and also admitted that they need Halo experts. If 343 Industries need people to handle Halo, 343 Industries not only need those people in the studio but also getting rid of some of their employees. It's that or getting rid of the studio entirely but the former is more sensible. Not just fix Halo Infinite with Halo experts but most importantly fix 343 Industries. Otherwise, 343 Industries will always have troubled developments like Platinum Games almost always.

Anyway, Phil was the only person in the world that couldn't say, "Halo Infinite is a mess", perhaps he told his family or friends but that doesn't make him a liar. He may allow everyone else to bash it but he can't do it publicly. I'm sure that he wants the game to be as perfect as possible and that goal entails all these difficult decisions, to back down, to delay and to hire additional talents for a game that was supposed to launch in November. He mustn't feel particularly happy or proud of 343 Industries now.

@BlueOcean If it's the "natural progression" you don't spend years stating the opposite, and then quietly revise history like you never said it. And if Phil had concerns but was told they were polishing, that really goes back to "he doesn't have his hands on the reigns, and doesn't know whats going on under him."

At this point X1X feels like WiiU and Vita. You were told to buy it on one promised future, and then a few years later they just "revise" to a new future. I certainly don't dislike XBox, but a lot of the positive energy they've built over the past 3 years has mostly dissolved over a month, for me, and I view XBox and Playstation on more or less equal footing again, to me, at this point. They've all taken my money and delivered something other than what they promised and they all want to convince me it'll be different this time, they won't hit me again, they promise.

Remember when Phil said they want to go all out with XSeX and not have another X1X situation again with a mid gen stop gap? Would you actually put an ounce of credibility in that statement at this point that it has anything to do with what XBox's plans are? That would be insane. He's gone back on every other thing he said up to this point. 8 months ago, he didn't want another $500 stop gap X1X situation. But in 3 years, he'll be flogging the XSeXY as the "natural progression" for the SeX family.

That's the problem. He'd purchased a lot of credibility and faith that has been squandered in a short time. Now it's just empty PR statements again, and you can't make a purchase based on what he says anymore, because you know he'll say something else in a year.

Again, Phil's lack of knowledge of his own company functioning should be concerning. If 343 after 5 years of development and 3 months from launch "revealed" that they actually have no idea what they're doing, don't feel capable of producing the very game they've been producing for 5 years, and need a major restructuring to even complete the project they've spent half a decade on....a year late..... How does the guy in charge of this seem blissfully unaware this is happening at all? He either knew and lied, or he didn't know and REALLY has no idea what's happening at MSGS. Which wouldn't surprise me given how Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, and Sea of Thieves also launched incomplete and broken.

I like Phil as a person, as a personality, and as a gamer. But the impression the past few weeks have left me with is he's a guy that has ideas, but doesn't stick to that plan and lets the corporate machine make the decisions, even after he's publicly stated the plan, leading to his statements ringing hollow and being about as reliable as a reddit "leak", and that he has little knowledge of internal dysfunction even as it's wasting millions of dollars and crippling important deadlines.

He was hyping the game as being confident in it, right before he had to delay it. Did he really not know it was a mess? HOW did he not know it was a mess (and how was he feeling good about it when he didn't actually know much about it at all.) That strikes me of being "hands off" in the extreme.

He should have been saying MONTHS ago that Halo would not be ready until 2021 due to COVID. Problem solved. No internal blame engine to publicly ingage in, and everyone would believe it and accept it.

If it were JUST Halo, I'd give him a pass that "he just trusted people he shouldn't have trusted." But it's a pattern, from the ENTIRE lifecycle strategy of One to Series being a complete alternate reality from what he stated, more than once to this. Phil says one thing and XBox does another. The tail is wagging the dog.

I don't think this in any way implies this game was a "shipwreck", nor do I think this addition will change the game in any tangible way. What is likely is that, despite delays, they are not slowing down their post-launch content plans and bringing back this person is in preparation of post-launch episodes/dlc/chapters/whateveryoucallit.

@NEStalgia You have a dev like insomniac who launched two major ps4 titles in the last four years, have launched several VR titles, and have still presented two impressive looking demos for upcoming games, one of which is launching this year. All while being independent.

Meanwhile, 343i's last game was five years ago, and the one they are working on was so rough it drew backlash and caused a delay. All while being supported by a company as rich and tech focused as MS, and the stewards of xbox's flagship franchise.

I think trying to blame Covid would have been seen right through as BS.

@Tharsman Nothing about "project lead for Halo Infinite campaign" or "product lead for Halo Infinite" sounds "episodes/dlc/chapters" focused. It very much sounds like it's campaign project lead....

@Richnj Yeah, I have to agree that one would see through the BS, but it was still a "clean" out that would get an easy pass. And that should have happens before showing that beta in July. If they said in June "Due to delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 situation, Halo Infinite will be launching in 2021" and not showed its current state in a main showcase, but instead showed rough beta footage at Gamescon or something, the world would have shrugged and said "okay."

@NEStalgia if you remember, they stated the campaign for this game will continue to get expanded for 10 years to come.

It is just simply impossible for anyone at this point to come aboard and change anything in the story in any significant form.

@BlueOcean where do you feel MS backed down about Xbox one support? I never seen this, I clearly recalled from the start they statd the first year and a half to two years of MS Game Studios games would support X1. When I saw games state they were XSX only, it simply was clear to me those games would launch beyond that window, and I never expected that promise to extend to third party exclusives like The Medium.

@Tharsman I also remember when they said the game would release in November. They say a lot of things....

His old bungie role was story. His new role is the campaign itself. Maybe that means the 10 year story, but I cant help but feel that fans hear "10 year story" and think "awesome, continuous expansion!" And when 343 says 10 years they mean "hmm 3 dlcs at 3.5 dev years each......". I mean that means the campaign doesn't end until XSexYZ out. And i doubt they handed him a 10 year contract.

@Tharsman Yeah I don't think anything beyond the initial campaign is set in stone. I could probably point a hundreds of TV shows or movie franchises that flip flopped between directions, but I think the most relevant one would be 343i and Halo's Forerunner video game trilogy. The games that were originally conceived as Halo 4, 5, and 6, and which I'm sure would have all launched between 2012 and 2018 had the reception not been so bad.

For all we know, this is why Staten has been bought in. To create a solid road map for the story that others can follow, rather than have a waffling, aimless story caused by numerous writers and story leads. As we've seen in other sci-fi media.