Halo Infinite Creative Director Leaves 343 Studios

Former Halo Infinite creative director Tim Longo has left 343 Industries. Longo previously worked as the creative director for Halo 5: Guardians.

As first reported by Kotaku, Longo was a part of a 343 Studios leadership shakeup, having previously been moved out of the creative director role to another position a few weeks ago. Following this change in position, Longo left 343 Studios voluntarily.

In a statement, Microsoft wrote that “creative vision and production of the game remains led by [Halo Infinite studio head] Chris Lee” and that no ill will is felt over Longo’s departure. The studio also touched on the one other major change to Halo Infinite’s leadership, writing that executive producer Mary Olsen has been transitioned to lead producer in charge of the game’s campaign.

Though this can be viewed as a troublesome omen for Halo Infinite, it’s important to remember that leadership changes like this do occasionally happen in the gaming industry. Just because Longo has left, it doesn’t mean Halo Infinite is automatically a bust. For context, Cyberpunk 2077 creative director Sebastian Stępień (who previously worked on all three The Witcher games) left CD Projekt Red for a role at Blizzard back in January 2019–as reported by Variety–and that game still looked very impressive at E3 2019.

Halo Infinite is the sixth mainline game in the Halo franchise, scheduled to release for Xbox One and PC in Fall 2020. The game will also be a launch title for the next-generation Xbox, codenamed Scarlett. 343 Studios boss Bonnie Ross describes Halo Infinite as a “spiritual reboot” for Halo though further details have remained sparse. As of right now, we’ve only gotten cinematic trailers and previews of Halo Infinite, no actual gameplay.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-infinite-creative-director-leaves-343-studios/1100-6469169/