LogInMicrosoft should stop throwing away developers.
343 Industries
Halo fans are painfully aware of Infinite's campaign, which was reportedly "ruined" by its leadership and the content that was cut from the final product. But what exactly was the problem?
Content creator HiddenXperia has recently released a video explaining what happened to Halo Infinite's campaign, DLC, story, and other elements, where he mentions some information from Rebs Gaming's earlier video essay.
Basically, Infinite's campaign didn't receive any external focus testing, and the campaign team was left without studio collaboration. Moreover, the leadership didn't play the campaign during internal testing days and then canceled internal testing altogether.
Former 343 Industries developer Briggs Crane left a comment under HiddenXperia's video, sharing some info about the studio's inner workings and saying that "Microsoft's contracting policies are single-handedly one of the biggest issues that Halo faces."
"Can you imagine how difficult it is to do your best work knowing that they'll get rid of you in 18 months and there's nothing you can do about it? Plus that forces people out the door just as they become fully trained and competent at their positions. All of this just so they can have the luxury of being able to easily lay off employees when it suits Microsoft execs."
Apparently, a "significant" part of 343 Industries works under a contract. When it ends, the team loses the members it has "raised," who then go to other studios, leaving the company with either fewer developers or new, untrained employees.
"The self inflicted brain drain is maddening to watch, and it's (in my opinion) why most Microsoft exclusive titles are seeing a downturn in quality. They've created a business environment in which the talent they should be trying to cultivate is being pushed out the door and is then nabbed by other studios," Crane added.
I do believe such a system saves Microsoft money at some point, but I can imagine the extra effort studios have to put into training new people all the time. Plus, this can't be good for the development process, and I doubt the final result will please the tech giant for long, so hopefully, Microsoft will change its ways one day soon.
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