343 Industries has faced multiple issues with Halo Infinite, from its official announcement to the subsequent departure of key creatives. The delicate situation of the studio has led to the cancellation of Halo Infinite’s cooperative mode and the discontinuation of other projects, such as the rumored battle royale. The layoffs have also not helped the studio, but at least Halo Studios already has an internal roadmap to follow, which is promising.
However, a veteran developer from 343 Industries named Will Waltz, who worked for about 13 years as the lead animator of the Halo franchise, has spoken about the studio on his LinkedIn profile after the news that Halo is moving to Unreal Engine 5 and they have “multiple new games” in the works. In this regard, the creative does not recommend working at Halo Studios, at least not with the current leadership. “I do not recommend working for 343 Industries (Halo Studios),” he states.
“Stay away and stay safe, it’s not worth it. To be clear, the employees have been some of the best in the industry because we all have good memories of Halo and Microsoft’s payment is nice, but their leadership is a cancer, especially Pierre, and you will hate how creatively limiting they are,” he points out about the studio. However, he thinks that the switch to Unreal Engine 5 is a positive news for developers, but that the issue still lies with the leadership.
Is Microsoft responsible for Halo’s situation?
“I have no doubt that, although the executives finally yielded to the switch to Unreal, they will find a way to make it organizationally tough to work there”. In response to an industry colleague, Waltz says he calls the executives “cancer” for several reasons. “The true responsibility lies with Microsoft and the people they choose to lead their studios, as well as how they manage that. Pierre is not suited for the job and I know why,” he explains. These statements remind us of those made weeks ago by a former employee of Halo Infinite, who blamed Microsoft’s policies for the “decline in quality” that the sci-fi shooter has experienced.
“I use the term ‘cancer’ because he is not a good leader and seems to not understand much about how to make an original game, especially at that level. To lead a studio you need someone who is a founder, someone who has made a game with their own hands, someone with vision. The studio and Microsoft have almost lost sight of the reason why we make Halo and the reason why fans love it so much, despite all the drama surrounding its name today,” he concludes, not without reminding that developers are amazing people and that using Unreal Engine could be a better opportunity.
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