Jason must be biased because there is no reason to think that this latest departure is a negetive thing, departures from companies result in a positive improvement in the company just as much they result in a negetive outcome. To be clear im not “calling out” Jason here, Im just stating the facts which should enable people to make a more informed choice.
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This is a good thing.
He is still an employee at Microsoft which means they had a talk with him to resign from his position rather than him being let go. Phil and co are obviously not happy with the development progress of Halo. In order to right the ship, they need to cut the people who have not performed and start on boarding new talent.
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Nailed it
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Jason biased?.. clutches pearls. Surely you jest, I mean it’s not like he went full meltdown when the Series X deep dive happened and proved all of his previous reporting wrong about how much more powerful the PS5 was. Nor did he go on a childish vulgarity spree that resulted in him blocking anyone with receipts…wait that did happen. Continue.
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As amazing as Xbox has been this year I can’t deny that I am rather puzzled by how it took a gameplay showing for them to realize a delay was very necessary. Why wasn’t this discovered sooner? The trailer in 2018 was great, but last year probably was a red flag already. Only a mere brief cutscene. For the general public this didn’t mean much, but behind the scenes things probably already weren’t going smoothly.
I’ve no idea of course, merely assuming here. We discussed this before about how building a new engine didn’t make things exactly easier neither. I just wonder, was that new engine necessary at all? Also, maybe they got overly ambitious with that big open worldish location, plans for making Halo Infinite a platform etc.
At this point I’m over it, over the hype and I’m much more looking forward to other upcoming IP, hopefully we get Starfield next year, that would make things a lot better. We’ll see what happens with Halo. 
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Please don’t call reporters biased because they make a statement
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one thing to take away from all this… Halo is no longer gonna be carrying the entire weight of Xbox this generation and that’s a very good thing for both the franchise and Xbox itself, that’s probably half the reason why the delay happened cuz Halo has enough potential to remain an important cornerstone of Xbox and its official mascot but it’s very much gonna become “just another game in the first party roster” as many many more games and characters and IPs shall come to share that burden of what Xbox is moving forward.
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Good point there, not carrying the weight any longer. That goes for developer and franchise alike. That should hopefully remove a lot of pressure from the team too.
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Wish him the best, but I hope Staten takes over.
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I don’t wish anyone to lose their job, especially in these times. But…its not surprising news.
I’m not what you would call a big Halo player/fan (brought MCC but couldn’t get into it), but so much of the marketing for the new consoles were focused around the expected release of Halo Infinite, from console box art to TV commercials. This is the third director to leave 343 now? Something isn’t right and needs fixing there.
He still works at Microsoft
Good. 
I dont know how someone with so little integrity can get a job at Bloomberg.
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Look, I’m tempted to look at the timing and am wondering if it’s tied to the negative reception of how Halo is handling skins. But correlation isn’t causation and really would be baseless speculation on my part.
What I am wondering though, is what are the specific responsibilities the “Game Director” role is responsible for.
Is the game their baby? Is it their vision? Or are they, much like a producer, more in charge of getting the game completed?
Seriously, beginning to wonder about Infinite. Looked terrible at reveal a few months ago, and they’ve lost several directors over the course of the project. Maybe time for MS to just take Halo away from 343? Is it a leadership issue?
Think this might be the right move tbh.
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Can’t say I have tremendous faith in it right now either. I think it’s a combination of several things that led to this.
The (in my opinion) warranted Halo 5 criticism probably had the developer deciding to make drastic changes, badly wanted to go back to the roots, brand new engine, probably over ambitious too. And undoubtedly management issues, that is clear.
Personally I would have been fine with something like Halo 4. A mix of open areas to fight in but also smaller scale areas, a good variety of sub bosses, not like 5’s Wardens. Good story, great visuals,etc. We don’t know how far along the game is in terms of game world and content, but i doubt they will go back to the drawing board. I hope for the best but I manage expectations all the way.
So I’m betting we won’t see Halo release until Autumn 2021. IMO if thats what it takes to get a game 343 are happy with so be it.
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I know this wasn’t directed at me, but I think in some cases we do because there’s a history of bias. In this case, I would say the shoe fits. I provided information to Jason when he was making some false claims earlier in the year and I was lambasted and blocked. I even provided a direct quote from Dr. Su to back up one of my statements and was called an idiot basically (she came to my lab for the announcement of our new supercomputer).
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