Halo Infinite Creative Director Leaves Company [Update: Lead Producer on Campaign leaves as well]
- Thread starter Strakt
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At first all the public saw with BioWare were the highest profile departures as well. People thought Casey Hudson leaving was leaving the rest in good hands but when the key figure of a game production leaves midway through development it can have a ripple effect on the entire progress and focus of the project as it inevitably shifts direction, sometimes becomes rebooted when we don't see it.
...and Halo 4 and Halo 5 both had very messy development cycles at 343.
Per article:
The overall creative vision and production of the game remains led by Chris Lee, Studio Head of Halo Infinite.
Indeed, but the equivalent of Neil Druckmann at 343 is Bonnie Ross who is above Chris Lee (Studio Head for HI) who was also above Tim Longo. And when you consider that, it sounds like a case of too many cooks and hierarchy which could be a reason behind the leadership shake up.
But in reality we're talking about one person - albeit in a very key position - in a studio of 800. We can speculate but there's no doubt a gulf of information, detail and context we will never know.
No they didn't. I think you mean Bungie with Destiny 1 and 2.
Usually when a director leaves on a game they have publically announced and promised to release, it means something went wrong in the project.
Casey's literally described as the Captain.
EDIT:
Nvm you're talking Chris Lee v. Tim Longo. My mistake.
Kotaku said:
I'm not really making a point to compare, I'm more showing how a creative director leaving (like the two I listed) is rather a big deal. Imagine if Neil left TLOU before it came out, it could have been veeeeeeeeery different.
I'm imagining him leaving or being moved for very good reasons, most people in the project agreeing with the decision, and Stinkles reading this thread, going "YOU DUMB FUCKS, IF YOU ONLY KNEW!".
In a couple of years we will read a piece on how was the original Longo vision for the game and say, how much better than the final product it was and how it would have saved halo.
/s well, not so much.
I hope it doesn't affect negatively the game. At this point the game is years in developement, probably he left with the groundwork done.
/s well, not so much.
I hope it doesn't affect negatively the game. At this point the game is years in developement, probably he left with the groundwork done.
They did? I get you may not like the games but is there a documented troubled development?!?!
Yeah, that was my point. With all those things I listed, for this game to do poorly it would have to be really fucking bad.
Pay no attention to the noise and just keep doing what you're doing 343i. I'm counting on you guys. Don't disappoint me. :)
Lol. This is funny.
From how Naughty Dog operates, my understanding of it is as follows:
The creative director is responsible for the story, tone and general direction of the game. So they probably say "okay, so act 1 takes place on Earth, then act 2 on Sanghelios as you search for the 'Acapella' (or some other silly Halo-ish name) and act 3 takes place on Installation 7" and they work with the below to make that happen.
The gameplay director is responsible for the nuts and bolts of the gameplay, overseeing balancing, combat encounters, integrating abilities, probably the level design and things like that.
Again, I don't know too much about it and I don't know if all big devs follow a similar structure, but that's what I have picked up from Naughty Dog coverage.
The fact of the matter is, we don't know what's going on. We know one person left, and while that person is important we know they weren't the overall creative lead on the project. So until we know more, this is just running around screaming for the sake of it. Projects don't live and die by one person alone and if the creative director leaving causes such a ripple then that wasn't the only problem in development.
Lol why people panic ?
The lead narrative designer of all Batman Arkham series joined 343i for +2 years now and not so long ago he became associate creative director, maybe that he has taken over the vision of the project.
Tim Longo is ex crystal dynamic who worked on TR Reboot with Gallagher.
The lead narrative designer of all Batman Arkham series joined 343i for +2 years now and not so long ago he became associate creative director, maybe that he has taken over the vision of the project.
Tim Longo is ex crystal dynamic who worked on TR Reboot with Gallagher.
Kinda, it certainly wasn't ideal due to the work changes they had to do in a short timeframe (they described it has a 3y project made in 2) and Bruce asked to leave because of it.
But yeah, the critical reception and sales were amazing.
Is she the creative director and writer of Halo Inifinite? Because wiki only says studio head, Evan Wells would be the equivalent in ND I think.
I think it's more significant that he was moved out of that role, into a role he was clearly not happy with.
So 343i must not have thought he was doing a good job. What that means for the game could go in so many directions but it's not just that he left, safe guess is he was demoted.
But it's not guaranteed to be some terrible thing; could be simply that the role wasn't really needed anymore and he wasn't happy with that. Notice they didn't name anyone a new "creative director."
So 343i must not have thought he was doing a good job. What that means for the game could go in so many directions but it's not just that he left, safe guess is he was demoted.
But it's not guaranteed to be some terrible thing; could be simply that the role wasn't really needed anymore and he wasn't happy with that. Notice they didn't name anyone a new "creative director."
We were talking about Halo games made post-Halo 2. And Halo 3 turned out great, hence why I didn't mention it.
Who said I didn't like Halo? I'll be there day 1 when they finally launch the MCC on PC. And I think the problems with both games' campaigns and H4's multiplayer speak for themselves, but I'll try to find some articles/videos about the two games and let you know
Oh yeah, even Neil said that they pretty much trew away half of the work done, and the game suffer some delays for it, but sometimes this changes need to be made.
Technically, the creative director didn't leave. Tim Longo was no longer creative director a week ago and still worked at 343. He did not like his new role and left. So when he left,he was no longer the creative director.
You are right but I believe Druckmann was recently promoted to co-studio head.
The New Jersey Devils changed their head coach right before their playoff run and ended up winning the Stanley cup. I think 343i has a mega hit coming.
People seem to be more interested in a dev leaving the team and the potential doom and gloom this could bring the franchise than any actual information with the game.
It's honestly impossible to talk about "equivalents" here, since every studio's structure is different and the same titles often mean different things (while different titles end up meaning the same). We don't even know if there IS a Neil-Druckmann/Bruce Straley-like person in development here. Someone like Cory Barlog, Hideo Kojima, some central person who's vision the game portrays. It's absolutely possible that 343 functions differently, that it's more producer- or commitee-driven, where the Creative leaders are only really implementing what they have been told to implement.
That's what's making this so impossible to proberly contextualize. Without inside knowledge, "Creative Director" could mean "Most Important Person Without Which The Game Is Going To Be Without Vision" or "Person Who Has To Manage The Guidelines Of Producers And Turn Them Into An Actual Game".
Without the first, your game is fucked. The second one can certainly be replaced, even if that's not ideal of course.
You're probably right, in terms of hierarchy it looks like Evan Wells = Bonnie Ross, Neil Druckmann = Chris Lee.
shhh....
dont read the details
just go AAAHHHH 343 is screwed!!! Anthem 2
So he was the creative director but that didn't mean he was in charge of the game and it's direction? These titles sometimes lol.
Game will probably still be great. Everything we've seen and interviews I've read about what kinda game it is sounds great. Doubt there will be a major shift creatively this late in production.
Game will probably still be great. Everything we've seen and interviews I've read about what kinda game it is sounds great. Doubt there will be a major shift creatively this late in production.
