Halo Infinite's multiplayer director has left 343

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/halo-infinites-multiplayer-director-has-quit-343/

Halo Infinite’s multiplayer creative director is leaving the studio, he’s announced.

Tom French shared the news in a tweet on Friday, writing: “After over 11 1/2 years on Halo, I step out of my Spartan armor for the last time today to head off to new adventures.

“It’s been a massive honor to have been part of a game I loved so much as a player and admired so much as a developer. I couldn’t be more proud of my time at 343.”

French’s departure coincides with the recent arrival of long-awaited features such as campaign co-op, the Forge open beta, and Mission Replay, all of which were previously delayed on several occasions.

The exit also follows other senior departures from the Microsoft studio, including its director of engineering and Bonnie Ross, who was the studio head for 15 years.

Historically, Halo Infinite has had a troubled production, suffering various delays and changes ofleadership in the years leading up to its December 2021 release and since.

Following the arrival of the game’s major Winter Update last month, 343 thanked Halo Infinite fans for their patience during a year in which the studio struggled to deliver several highly anticipated features for the game.

“We know it certainly hasn’t been the smoothest or quickest ride, but with the Winter Update we have an opportunity to show our thanks for the community’s dedication and feedback which serves as the north star guiding us to evolve the player experience of Halo Infinite,” wrote community writer Alex Wakeford.

“The Winter Update marks a major step forward for our game and studio, but this is just the first step of that evolution. The team is actively working on key player experience priorities across the game to address areas of feedback, and we are targeting another game update before the end of this year.

“Your support is greatly appreciated, and we can’t wait to turn this corner with you all in 2023 as we look to shorter seasons, a more regular stream of content, and bigger things to come.”

Halo Infinite’s third season, ‘Echoes Within’, is scheduled to launch in March 2023 and run until June.

And prolific Texas-based support studio Certain Affinity announced in September that it’s leading development on “something big and new for the franchise”.

Dang.. end of an era, SW? Should we just put Halo Infinite's nail in the coffin?

Could mean everything, could mean nothing. Could get some fresh blood in there to shake things up. Only time will tell. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. 🤷‍♂️

They won't need Halo anymore anyway once they finally get ABK (maybe). 343i about to served their CoD making papers

Sack Booty while their at it.

I bet Halo Infinite was living in his head rent free, so he just left. In a year from now, you will remember me, the rent free cow that predicted this clusterfuck, and you will respect me.

This, without a doubt, is the biggest disaster we have seen since 1999.

He did his work, Halo still lives rent free on these forums.

@hardwenzen: what should Phil do at this point?

I don't think this would be a bad thing.

@hrt_rulz01: Agreed. Could be a very good thing indeed.

Can't say anyone should be shocked to hear news such as this. People leave studios all the time and however, I feel like 343 Industry is bleeding higher-up devs at an alarming rate.

Glad you asked this very pertinent question. In my humble opinion, and trust me, my opinions are always humble, i think they should simply dumpster this franchise, and set the dumpster on fire. I believe this is thr right path to take, and it will save people's time and nerves being constantly worried and disappointed about the game. Simply admit they fuckedup, and as an apology, they're shutting everything down, and sending everyone at 343i to their local McDonalds flipping burgers.

@SolidGame_basic: lol, keep clowning 🤡. Here I thought we were finally getting a break from the Halo news, but you cows sure got a fetish.

Tell 343i devs to stop leaving the sinking ship, and nobody will have enough content to create threads😄😄😄Its nobody's fault that there's drama out there on weekly basis.😂

Halo is dying of death...

@Zero_epyon: @hardwenzen: that's funny, I just played the game today and campaign is still a blast, even better with a friend.

Stay butt hurt though 🤡

Hopped back into some multiplayer tonight and it felt good, really damn good. 😎

^If it felt really damn good, why don't you go on Twitch and tell us how you really feel😏

You gotta admit that i, hardwenzen, the biggest cow in our solar system, have seen all of this mess coming way before the game was released, and have warned everyone during the honeymoon phase in the official hype thread. Never doubt me, the prognosticator. These are the skills we acquire as Sony fans, and PS5 owners.

Its called refusing to accept defeat. A losers behaviour.

You say to stay butthurt, but what are we supposed to be butthurt about? ALL our 1st party studios are healthy and are printing bangers. Nobody is worried about Sony titles being a "23M downloads to 3000 left on the servers within six months". This game is a disaster, and the fact that its a bigger failure than BF2042 is saying something.

This developer and game sucks ass. Close thread. Tired of hearing about this topic, it's been over a year and is beyond ridiculous at this point.

Why are cows trying to make out that this is a bad thing?

Did they leave or were they let go? That's the better question.

This can only be a good thing for Halo. The current team are the ones that botched Halo Infinite's development. Some of these guys need to go.

If MS starts cleaning up some of these teams, they'll be better off for it.

Hopefully Polyphony Digital does the same. Sony's flagship racing sim has been stale since the PS2.

Except he was with the company for 11+ years 😎

Both Solidgame and Hardwenzen are Halo's biggest fans. They get Halo breaking news before 343 even knows about it.

@blaznwiipspman1: someone doesn’t know the difference between dying and dead.

@SolidGame_basic: Cows.

Day X: Halo Infinite is a mess! The game is mismanaged! 343 is Doomed! New management is needed, but MS won't do anything!!!

---MS replaces key management at 343, and puts remaining management on notice---

Day Y: Halo Infinite is a mess! 343 management is being replaced!! 343 is Doomed! MS has ruined tbe studio and now all the management is leaving!!!

Despite what you cows want (desperately), Halo and Halo Infinite are not going anywhere.

@hardwenzen: Why are you butthurt?

Let's see...

1) You spent a year spreading FUD that Halo was going to score a 4/10, then it launched and scored a 9/10.

2) Despite a lack of post launch content (a legitimate critique), Halo Infinite spent most of the year as one of the top 10 or top 20 played games on Xbox. PS games, in the other hand, are notoriously "one and done".

3) The winter update has proven a hit, and is proof the game is going to continue to get support.

4) Despite your constant rants, no one except cows believe your analysis of the game, because those of us that play it have proven you wrong more times than can be easily counted.

And that, Mr Super Cow, is why you are butthurt.

Thought experiment.

Image Ragnarok was released as a 10 hour experience with the rest of the game being promised later and after months of underwhelming deliveries, Cory Barlog leaves Santa Monica.

I'm sure lems would be understanding and say the GoW franchise and Santa Monica are ok.

@Zero_epyon:

thought expirament:

Imagine criticizing a game franchise on another platform for a lack of post launch content when your console of choice's biggest game was confirmed to have zero future DLC and has no multiplayer.

Was Ragnarok, a game I'm still playing because there's a plethora of post story content, supposed to have multiplayer and DLC?

Someone missed the point by a mile.

@Zero_epyon: Yeah, you missed the point.

Awesome. That's good for Xbox community

Dude, the game is so bad that people are losing their mind and leave under "for medical reasons". Its a complete shitshow.

@hardwenzen: churn is a normal part of the industry, it happens everywhere, and of course as the multiplayer director, with a very poor handling of multiplayer content, even a whole year after official launch, is it that surprising hes getting his ass fired?? It doesn't change the fact, halo infinite is quite possibly one of the greatest games this gen. The gen only started after halo infinite launched, let that sink in.

Theres still lots of players too, halo is still a top 10 played game on xbox, and even on steam the numbers have been climbing since the winter update. We're going straight to the moon, heck yeah.

There is nothing normal happening with this studio and franchise. What we're seeing is the worse that could happen to a studio and their franchise.

Halo infinite 9-10

Ragnarok 9-10

Horizon forgotten worst 8-10

He left after whipping Sony's best games ass

I feel really sad right now, because all of the game devs that destroyed the Halo franchise are now jumping ship 😭

Poo bovine brigade. Played through the borefest Dad of War Too once and done movie-game and now it's back to Halo 24/7/365.

Good stuff!!! lol :P

Deja vu, I remember all the clowning that cows did on Halo 5 just for it to end up being the best shooter of its gen. Somethings never change

#fire343

@SecretPolice: lol!

Damn, cows make more Halo threads than Lems!