To call the Halo franchise influential is an understatement. Not only did the original game ensure Microsoft and the Xbox were a success in the console gaming space, but it established many basic genre staples such as recharging health and teabagging. Subsequent entries cemented it as the most popular and best-selling Xbox-exclusive IP.
However, there’s no denying that the reputation has become a bit muddied over the last decade. It feels like most fans and their mothers will tell you Halo’s been on a harsh decline ever since 343 Industries took over, even though they’ve been managing Halo longer than its predecessor Bungie and released multiple financially-successful works. Halo’s history has become complicated by various factors and Microsoft certainly hasn’t done what it could to treat the franchise better.
I won’t argue that 343 Industries is completely free of blame. Halo: The Master Chief Collection was released in a broken state that took years to fix. Halo 5: Guardians launched without key features on top of a divisive campaign story. Halo Infinite seemed to start off in a decent state for a live-service game, but it soon became apparent that the team couldn’t keep up with the expected flow of content for six months, much less the purported 10 years. Most of these issues reek of poor management, and former employees corroborate that.
While it’s murky whether the management issues are purely from 343 Industries or is being bled into from Microsoft, we do know that the latter hasn’t provided the best foundation. Case and point is their scummy tactic of employing a lot of contractors and dropping them after 18 months so that they don’t have to hire them.
An article from Bloomberg estimated that half the studio was composed of rotating 18-month contractors. Contract work isn’t an anomaly in the games industry, but having so many limited time workers on a project with years of development time and poor management can easily lead to many of the issues with Halo Infinite. I won’t pretend I know everything, but between providing more workers with respectable wages or letting your biggest release come out underbaked, I’d assume the investment is better to prevent the latter from happening.
For fans, it’s confusing how mismanagement has remained a recurring problem. Halo isn’t just another Xbox franchise – it’s THE Xbox franchise and it’s kept that status among other growing exclusives. How can Microsoft not step in and course correct their flagship franchise?
The most simple answer would be that business is good! Why fix what’s still selling? As much as some will beg for the Bungie days from over a decade ago, many of those people have kept buying in with each new entry. It’s a bit like the Sonic cycle, only the games have been more successful and the fans shit on the developers more.
Halo Infinite was the only uncertain one because we don’t know the precise metrics Microsoft was looking to surpass for a partially F2P live-service game that’s fully offered through Xbox Game Pass. A recent interview with Xbox Game Studios’ CEO Phil Spencer seemed to suggest it only had a strong launch though. Evidently, not enough people bought the high priced cosmetics aside from the totally wallet-friendly $10 cat ear helmet bundles.
Microsoft obviously knew that there were issues since the project would end up being pushed back a year. As much as we wish people remembered Twitter’s favorite Shigeru Miyamoto quote, that single delay did look bad to many and you’d assume they would have kept a closer eye to make sure everything would be good to go for launch and beyond. If there’s anything worth intervening for it would be this! A Halo game can’t be subpar.
Yet, Halo Infinite absolutely was. The delayed title launched with far fewer maps than previous entries and featured only two stretched out seasons of content for the first year. A live-service version of your biggest brand that just so happens to be a first-person shooter should be a near-perfect recipe for success. It shouldn’t be fumbled worse than me playing Oddball.
With such obvious issues, you’d think Microsoft would intervene. Maybe make some exceptions and properly hire people.
But that’s not the kind of choice they’d make because they’re more akin to the team-killing griefer trying to load up on betrayals, i.e. by laying off 10,000 employees. Unsurprisingly, 343 Industries also took a hit from the recent layoff wave. As much as they want to assure that the series is in good hands with the studio, it’s hard to believe it after they let go of people who want to contribute.
This leads us to the franchises’ future, which is as uncertain as whoever the hell the Endless are. Ongoing shakeups on the topside of the studio could lead to some improvements in the future. Reports that they’re switching to the universal Unreal Engine could also cut down on educating new staff.
However, it’s difficult to not feel uneasy. Is it time for another soft reboot? Would a new entry under the studio be accepted when so much horrible fan vitriol remains directed at the developers? Do any changes matter when Microsoft treats its flagship title and its employees with as much respect as the Halo TV show treated its characters? Will there be any respect left when the far more successful Call of Duty series is set to come under the Microsoft umbrella?
Before we decide how we feel about the next entry, maybe it’s time that we scrutinize Microsoft a little more. It’s also probably a good opportunity for the studio to finally rebrand itself away from a character that betrayed players twice.
