It sucks, but I am not surprised in the slightest. · 4:27am Jan 21st, 2023
So there are unconfirmed reports this week that among Microsoft's company-wide layoffs, around half of the staff of 343 Industries is included in the fallout.
Hearing about people losing their jobs always sucks, but just because some people say it isn't surprising, that doesn't necessarily mean it's being celebrated. But if fans have been screaming at you for over a year, and the consequences finally come, I do believe they are allowed to say "we told you so," when the hammer finally slams down.
Halo Infinite has consistently under-delivered for the past 14 months, especially when compared to past entries in the franchise.
In the past year, Forge is the only true smash hit update we've gotten; everything else has either been barebones, delayed, or paled in comparison to post-launch support of past Halo titles, or even what we got at launch in past titles.
Creating a cohesive narrative from game to game is something 343 has completely and utterly failed at.
The one section of the community that has been consistently amazing all year has been HCS. I have watched those streams and tournaments for all of 2022, for far, far, longer than I've played the game myself. That fact in itself is such a shame; after seeing the best players in the world throw down on stage, and yet I can't seem to keep myself in-game for longer than 2 or 3 matches.
Back in 2008, I couldn't get enough Halo 3. I lost sleep. Double XP weekends every week. Armor that you earned for free. Colors were free! What does Infinite have? No career progression, no 2XP, and half-baked, largely unenjoyable limited-time modes every few months. The current Covert One-Flag offering is probably the worst of them all.
There are also unconfirmed rumors that 343 will no longer develop future Halo titles, and will instead oversee external development. Oversee what aspects? I hope to god it's not the writing, or the pace of content updates.
All in all, I truly, truly hope I can get to a HCS Year 2 event in-person for my first esports event as a spectator, because I would now never put money on there being a Year 3. I think Halo Infinite will go down in industry history as one of the worst examples of Live Service.
Perhaps Halo should have come to an end with 3. That would have been a perfect place to end the story.
5709915
Either that or continue with spinoffs like Halo Wars, ODST, and Reach.
5709916
Good point. I never got round to playing Halo Wars 2, but apparently it was surprisingly good.
These are dark times for halo fans.
5709917
I played around half of it, and I'm in no rush to get back to it because, again, it's one of many story beats that 343 just dropped with absolutely no explanation.
5709918
Indeed. We must stand up to face the coming darkness.
5709919
I hate it when developers (or writers in general) do that. It's incredibly lazy.
5709916
odst and wars were my favorite
At the rate things have gone down for the video game industry, how soon do you believe said industry will collapse?
5709920
On that we can agree on.
I enjoyed Halo 4 myself, but yeah, 5 was eh....Infinite had promise, but yeha.
I remember when at launch there wasn't even playlists because "people wouldn't play their other game modes otherwise".
343 is also not making halo anymore they are overseeing the outsourcing of it so its dead and gone now
You know I really had high hopes for infinity at the start and as I heard more I tempered my expectations quite a bit and was still disappointed. Then they started their stupid shit like charge $3 to lower your weapon or $15 to change red lights to blue, or when they promised to deliver, then cancelled so many things I wanted like co-op I left. Especially looking at some of the amazing art and animations from outside "amateur" programers like the needler having and shooting hotdogs for spines and reloading with a pack of hotdogs. Or the assault rifle having a French fry or pizza skin and reloading with a potato or a slice, that's the kind of stuff I want to spend my cash on, the fun, the weird, the entertaining. I want that potato reload, I want pink Vader, I like the creativity and effort it takes to do that well and I repeatedly sent 343 emails stating this. Yes I know they don't care because I'm some internet rando but the attempt was made, and now it's not. Sorry for the rant I've been playing the Halo franchise since day one and seeing it die like this breaks my heart.
5709916
ODST was horrendously underrated and undervalued when it came out and should have been explored/developed more.
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