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Halo Infinite Campaign DLCs scrapped, focus now on MP. 343 to stop Halo development [update: J Schreier spoke to sources who dispute most of this]

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P40L0

P40L0

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Jun 12, 2018
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The source seems reliable due to its leaks' track record and there's A LOT to unpack here:


View: https://twitter.com/BathrobeSpartan/status/1616169276984942599?s=20&t=nrJr8JaHaf4Un26TIscu4g
(it's a long thread in native french, which you can auto translate)

Summary:
  • 343 seems to have lost around 1/3 of its workforce (internal + contractors)
  • 2023 plans seem unchanged by this major reshape: focus was and still is on MP for this year (Forge MM, new Seasons/BP, New maps and probably Tatanka)
  • Before Bonnie Ross quitting, Joseph Staten with a small team was preparing discussing to ship multiple contained Campaign DLC to expand its narrative over the months or even years. This plan was stopped when Pierre Hintze and the new key roles came in after Ross as they've seen too much complexity in creating new contents for Campaign + was not enough profitable for them to sustain, so they decided to completely halt them in favor on focusing on MP only for the time being (this may have led to Staten deciding to leave too)
  • Halo Infinite largely missed its financial and overall goals and led to Microsoft decision to halt 343 "active development" transforming (or regress?) them into "franchise coordinators"
  • This means that other than supporting Halo Infinite MP (which is already largely externalized to Certain Affinity, Spearsoft and others), their role will be limited to make sure different external studios will create further Halo projects (direct sequels to Infinite story or spin-offs of different genre) respecting all the established lore and fundamentals for the IP
  • Slipspace Engine is still in place along with its internal engineers, but it will be opened up to learn and use also to all external studios working with the IP (if they want)
  • In this sense, 343 together with Microsoft Game Publishing started contacting (and contracting) with external studios to create "future Halo experiences" together since 2020, also with the aim to reduce/optimize costs/budget

So basically, Halo as we know it has arrived to an end...

If these claims are true (as generally the source provided in the past), this means that we would wait a very long time to see a proper sequel to Master Chief story on Zeta Halo, while simultaneously see Halo Infinite MP still supported and the Halo franchise expanded with smaller projects, each of them as a different spin on this universe by different studio and artist.

Considering that all I wanted in the near future was just continue enjoying Halo Infinite Campaign in different biomes, enemies and situations: all of this is just so fucking sad to read for me :(


EDIT (01/21/2023):

343i OFFICIAL RESPONSE


View: https://twitter.com/Halo/status/1616918614254157828?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1616918614254157828%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=


EDIT (01/20/2023):


Corroboration of the rumor:

seasonedgaming.com

What's Next for Halo Infinite and 343 Industries?

Well, as a Halo fan, it's been a week. And to some degree, it's been a long couple of years. I don't think I need to ramble off my resume as a long-term
seasonedgaming.com seasonedgaming.com

French:
Pour le reste, une petite équipe aurait planché sur les pistes possibles pour continuer les aventures de Master Chief, avec des DLC permettant de continuer l'aventure principale. Malheureusement, le pragmatisme des nouveaux dirigeants du studio aurait mené à l'abandon de cette idée au profit de mises à jour strictement multijoueur, moins onéreuses à produire et offrant une plus forte rétention des joueurs. Il est à noter que ces détails sont très proches des informations dont la rédaction de JV a pu avoir accès grâce à ses propres sources.

English:
For the rest, a small team would have worked on possible avenues to continue the adventures of Master Chief, with DLC allowing the main adventure to continue. Unfortunately, the pragmatism of the new directors of the studio would have led to the abandonment of this idea in favor of strictly multiplayer updates, less expensive to produce and offering higher player retention. It should be noted that these details are very close to the information which JV's editorial staff was able to access thanks to its own sources.
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View: https://twitter.com/nickjcal/status/1616532492860936192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1616532492860936192%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=


Partial de-bunking of the rumor:

By Jason Schreier


View: https://twitter.com/JezCorden/status/1616514669287510035?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1616514669287510035%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=
 
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Milennia

Milennia

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Wow, they shelved it entirely, reduced to a support studio for the only series they were formed to work on

Actually brutal
 
Zebesian-X

Zebesian-X

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Dec 3, 2018
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(nvm misread... damn)

I hear you OP, I'm extremely down on the news. A follow-up to Infinite's campaign was one of my most anticipated projects from Xbox this gen.. so much potential to build on there
 
Patitoloco

Patitoloco

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Oct 27, 2017
23,611
I wouldn't be 100% surprised, specially in their campaign plans.

Soooooo, 343 would become a support studio and creative leaders and that's it? They would outsource Halo?
 
ScoutDave

ScoutDave

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Oct 25, 2017
5,296
I just got this weird feeling if the Acti/Blizz deal goes through, One of the 3 COD studios is gonna be handed the reigns for a Halo game.
 
Maple

Maple

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Oct 27, 2017
11,719
One of the biggest tragedies in gaming is how the Halo brand has been managed over the last decade.

Absolutely terrible.
 
Milennia

Milennia

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ScoutDave said:
I just got this weird feeling if the Acti/Blizz deal goes through, One of the 3 COD studios is gonna be handed the reigns for a Halo game.
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They need someone to pick up the mantle if this is true, or they never make another halo campaign again and just run it off the ghost of 343
 
DixieDean82

DixieDean82

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,837
Sounds like good news to me!

From the outside it didn't appear to move many GamePass subs (I didn't see any announcements). Heck, for all we know High On Life might have moved more subs!

And away from the business side, I have not been impressed with 343, so I'm hoping the single player stuff goes to another studio. Give to the guys who rebooted Doom. Let 343 keep the MP going.
 
Kill3r7

Kill3r7

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Oct 25, 2017
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Patitoloco said:
I wouldn't be 100% surprised, specially in their campaign plans.

Soooooo, 343 would become a support studio and creative leaders and that's it? They would outsource Halo?
Click to expand...
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That's what the thread suggests. They would allow others to explore the IP. Although we wouldn't see the fruits of this initiative for a long time.
 
Spark

Spark

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Dec 6, 2017
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Honestly, just the original trilogy plus Halo Wars and maybe Reach for me. It was a good run.
 
LightKiosk

LightKiosk

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  • Before Bonnie Ross quitting, Joseph Staten with a small team was preparing to ship multiple contained Campaign DLC to expand its narrative over the months or even years. This plan was stopped when Pierre Hintze and the new key roles came in after Ross as they've seen too much complexity in creating new contents for Campaign + was not enough profitable for them to sustain, so they decided to completely halt them in favor on focusing on MP only for the time being (this may have led to Staten deciding to leave too)
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Assuming this is true I genuinely don't get this. GamePass thrives off of DLC after people play the base game through the service so having multiple post-launch SP focused DLCs priced at $20-30ea would be perfect for such a business model.

They didn't even want to see their post-launch SP plans through to the end and 1/3rd of the studio got laid off because of it? That is extremely shitty.

EDIT: Clarification from Jason on page 16.
I ran these bullet points by a few people. While it's true that 343 is focused on multiplayer, the stuff about campaign DLC being scrapped is false (I don't think there was much of that planned in the first place), and a lot of this is either wrong or just speculation.
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Flavius

Flavius

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Oct 28, 2017
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What the fuck, man? I know it's a rumor but this is all been coming to a head for a while. What a fucking cluster.

Just surreal.

If this is accurate, then Slipspace/Blam sounds like it's finally gonna die what is likely a justifiable and overdue homicide.
 
HardRojo

HardRojo

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Give Halo the time, resources, team and budget it needs, even if it a next game wouldn't come out this generation. I know the plan for Infinite was to last for several years, but it seems like it ain't happening and we all know how hard it is to come back from a bad launch.
 
Chip Chanceworth

Chip Chanceworth

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Oct 28, 2017
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Im ok with this. Let's see what someone else can do with it. Halo Wars 2 is my favorite Halo thing in a long time, so I'm ok with someone else taking a crack.
 
Jarmel

Jarmel

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Oct 25, 2017
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Sounds like 343 is probably going to get shut down in like 5 years or have a skeleton crew.
 
Flavius

Flavius

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Tough to keep up with the other threads, but any speculation on this decision being in any way related to anticipation that the ActiBlizz acquisition does not go through?
 
Moebius

Moebius

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Oct 28, 2017
5,384
Halo Infinite is a lot of fun, but it took way too long to get here. This is good news for the future of the franchise. I am not happy about all the staff being cut, but 343 wasn't getting it done. Having another studio in charge of Halo is really for the best and I say that as a massive Halo fan.
 

HockeyBird

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Oct 27, 2017
12,584
The Halo universe and the gameplay of Infinite is ripe for regular campaign DLCs. I can imagine a world where we get a new Halo campaign every year, like getting a new season of your favorite TV show. But of course, someone at 343/Microsoft wouldn't see value in that so it was cancelled.
 
Shemhazai

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Kschreck

Kschreck

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Oct 27, 2017
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I was wondering when this would happen. I expected it but kept my thoughts to myself as I didn't want to upset anyone. I use to love Halo but never liked the direction the franchise went in (referring to single player) after Bungie moved on. I think sometimes you just got to let something you love go but it's none the less heartbreaking what became of this franchise. :(
 
Milennia

Milennia

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Slayven said:
Tale from my ass, they get folded up into MS Game studios and become general support
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My expectation as well, they can just pull a cod studio off to work on halo long term

Still unsure if we ever get another campaign again though, and this reboot or whatever would probably be like a 6+ year plan
 
Fawz

Fawz

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Oct 28, 2017
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I'm happy to see them willing to go outside of 343 for new Halo games at least, since their track record has been abysmal overall.

I get not investing further into Halo Infinite Campaign consider how lackluster reception for it was and how limited moniziation for it is compared to multiplayer. Still a shame if they leave things as to me Infinite's campaign is still the weakest of any Halo title and yet probably has the most potential for additions.

Overall I think we're at a point where the Halo IP probably deserves to get less investment and spotlight as MSFT looks to their other franchises instead. Best to take a safer & more stable approach from here on out then trying for another radical reinvention or ambitious new project.
 
Arn

Arn

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Could've predicted this from the moment we saw that Brute.
 
Killer

Killer

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HardRojo said:
Give Halo the time, resources, team and budget it needs, even if it a next game wouldn't come out this generation. I know the plan for Infinite was to last for several years, but it seems like it ain't happening and we all know how hard it is to come back from a bad launch.
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Already did that with Halo Infinite. Didn't help. This studio is hopeless top to bottom tbh.
 
SarcasticRobot

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I kind of can't believe Microsoft spent years saying "we get it, we know we need to get this right" and this is what's happened. Just made to sure extra-shred that credibility.
 
Dyle

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A lot of the finger pointing around Infinite seemed to indicate that many of the problems were coming from above 343 so I wonder how much this will actually fix things. If Microsoft was so intent on running the studio with a revolving door of contractors to try and save money these outside studios would presumably be similarly constrained.
 
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