Microsoft Halo Infinite - Information Thread, update (01/15/24): Certain Affinity's battle royale project reportedly cancelled, UE5-based campaign project in development since 2022

[JPDunks4]

1 hour ago, The def star said:

I've been having a blast messing around in Forge. I made a BTB map set around two carriers fighting over an asteroid field in Forge. Anyone interested in play testing it? Trying to get a full lobby going.

 

https://youtu.be/WyOQA5YlTUw

 

Organize a night and let me know and I'll join.

 

Just watched the vid very cool concept.  

[The def star]

3 hours ago, JPDunks4 said:

 

Organize a night and let me know and I'll join.

 

Just watched the vid very cool concept.  

We totally should do a d1p night. There are so many great custom maps and modes coming out. Thursday and Friday nights are always good for me. What's your availability?

[JPDunks4]

I'm free most nights.  If we can get a group together there def seem to be a lot of cool unique things in the works.

[BloodyHell]

I'd play. Not very good though. 

[The def star]

2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

I'd play. Not very good though. 

Nah you don't need to be good to have fun . I'll set up something on Friday. I have a lot of maps and game modes bookmarked. I have you on my friends list JP. What your GT @BloodyHell?

[BloodyHell]

6 hours ago, The def star said:

Nah you don't need to be good to have fun . I'll set up something on Friday. I have a lot of maps and game modes bookmarked. I have you on my friends list JP. What your GT @BloodyHell?

Sent you a pm.

[The def star]

On 11/16/2022 at 3:54 AM, BloodyHell said:

Sent you a pm.

Cool added you. I'm going to get some custom games going around 5pm pst tonight. Anyone else interested post here and I'll send invites.

[SoberChef]

Keep reminding myself I need to boot up Halo to update it w/ the new forge stuff.

[BloodyHell]

Man, I'm sorry @The def star. Completely slipped my mind. My grandfather isn't doing well (he stays with us since Covid started, he's 96), and I got caught up with that on my mind. 

[silentbob]

Someone turned the game into something like the TitanFall2 campaign. They gave you the phase shifting ability into 2 separate layouts on pretty much the same blueprint 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

No idea how reliable this source is, but if true, then 343 Industries got it particularly hard in today's MS "downsizing":

 

Report: Massive Layoffs Hit 343 Industries - Lords of Gaming

LORDSOFGAMING.NET

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Today, it was announced that over 60 people have been laid off from 343 Industries the studio behind Halo Infinite

 

Quote

According to our source, at least 60 people at 343 Industries have been laid off this morning from the Redmond, Washington-based developer. This is a significant portion of the workforce which at its peak employed over 450 people. The layoffs are said to be across the company. However, they are heaviest towards individuals working on the single-player side of the studio.

 

 

Jason Schreier is also confirming that 343i experienced significant employee cuts:

 

Quote

Microsoft won't share specific numbers, but several employees have told me that 343 Industries was hit hard. This comes in the wake of a long-running hiring freeze and a lot of contractor departures

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Per Schreier:

 

Quote

It sounds like 343's Halo Infinite campaign team got hit hard. In an email to staff, studio head Pierre Hintze wrote that "we've made the difficult decision to restructure elements of our team, which means some roles are being eliminated."

 

I think it's safe to assume that whatever single-player content was planned for the game is now effectively dead and buried.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Should have instead got rid of the live service team. That’s one part of Halo literally nobody asked for and has been the worst part of the game. 

[Remarkableriots]

It was a good decision not to waste my money on Series X.

[Zaku3]

3 hours ago, Remarkableriots said:

It was a good decision not to waste my money on Series X.

 

I really liked the campaign and hoped we'd see more in the future. I really enjoyed the whole Master Chief and the lads.

[best3444]

11 hours ago, Zaku3 said:

 

I really liked the campaign and hoped we'd see more in the future. I really enjoyed the whole Master Chief and the lads.

 

I beat it twice that's how much I enjoyed it.

[Mr.Vic20]

Well, I guess Halo is, in fact, not Infinite. 

[Zaku3]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

 

I beat it twice that's how much I enjoyed it.

 

I think an open world game with a greater focus on humans vs aliens would be dope. Add more vehicle types, ability to command marines, new weapons, AI improvements to better facilitate this. Oh maybe an AI director that works as high commander to determine objectives and stuff. Like make Halo Wars an FPS and give us a large open world to fight over. Halo is at it's best when it's master chief and the marines. I want to see a massive war effort to take a Covenant held Ring World.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

[stepee]

Ohhh yeah get rid of the team that worked on the part that is generally considered a success and a return to form. Keep throwing money at whatever the hell the live service team is doing instead makes sense.

 

I wonder if instead of the original single player campaigns taking place within Infinite plan there will just be a regular sequel instead  so they need less people due to cut anticipated frequency of content drops. Or if they are just going to kill Halo as anything besides live service multiplayer now.

 

This seems like what we talked about in the Ubi thread, why can’t they just make Halo games and release those.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, stepee said:

I wonder if instead of the original single player campaigns taking place within Infinite plan there will just be a regular sequel instead  so they need less people due to cut anticipated frequency of content drops.

 

I'm willing to bet that this is what's going to happen.

[stepee]

Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

I'm willing to bet that this is what's going to happen.

 

That would definitely be the most optimistic outcome!

[stepee]

Halo Infinite was the most fun fps campaign since idk what (I said most fun not best, don’t come at me Doom fans)

[Brian]

 

Ex-Halo Infinite developers criticise "incompetent leadership" at Microsoft

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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Former 343 Industries employees have taken to social media to criticise Microsoft following a round of layoffs. Yesterd…

Quote

"The layoffs at 343 shouldn't have happened and Halo Infinite should be in a better state," he said on Twitter. "The reason for both of those things is incompetent leadership up top during Halo Infinite development causing massive stress on those working hard to make Halo the best it can be.

 

"The people I worked every day with were passionate about Halo and wanted to make something great for the fans. They helped push for a better Halo and got laid off for it.

 

Tyler Owens, another former 343 Industries employee now at Respawn working on Apex Legends, tweeted: "As a Halo fan I'm really tired of Microsoft business practices and policies slowly killing the thing I love. Between the contracting policies they abuse for tax incentives and layoffs in the face of gigantic profits/executive bonuses... they set Halo up for failure"

 

Unsurprisingly Microsoft management still stink at their jobs. 

[stepee]

1 hour ago, Brian said:

 

Ex-Halo Infinite developers criticise "incompetent leadership" at Microsoft

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

---

Former 343 Industries employees have taken to social media to criticise Microsoft following a round of layoffs. Yesterd…

 

Unsurprisingly Microsoft management still stink at their jobs. 

 

Sounds right. People give Phil a lot of credit because of Gamepass and better hardware turning things around from the X1 launch but isn’t he head of the studios as well? Maybe he isn’t great at that part. I know it takes time to build teams, or build them then shrink them in this case, but it’s been an entire (long) generation and we are going to be about 1/3rd through this gen soon and it’s still the “just give them time” game. Buying a billion studios somehow has not helped them release steady AAA first party content and the things announced sound potentially troubled and a million years away. 
 

They will have bought themselves to a big one with Starfield at probably some point this year and maybe some projects are going better than it seems so it’s not without hope but goodness the FTC really doesn’t need to worry about MS buying any game studios.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

What appears to be a significant issue with Microsoft as a whole is their stipulation that contractors can only work for them for a maximum period of 18 months (they can return to work for them again after a six-month break in service).  This strikes me as being nothing short of insanity as it all but ensures a high degree of churning/turnover which by itself results in increased costs and project timeline slips.

[stepee]

20 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

What appears to be a significant issue with Microsoft as a whole is their stipulation that contractors can only work for them for a maximum period of 18 months (they can return to work for them again after a six-month break in service).  This strikes me as being nothing short of insanity as it all but ensures a high degree of churning/turnover which by itself results in increased costs and project timeline slips.

 

That’s interesting because that seems like something that would be almost intended to be pro employee (only allow 18 months so they are forced to hire productive contractors  that have proven themselves rather than leaving them contractor forever as some companies like to do) but it just ends up instead that they just get rid of them lol.

 

When I contracted with the judicial council in SF they did the same thing.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 minute ago, stepee said:

That’s interesting because that seems like something that would be almost intended to be pro employee (only allow 18 months so they are forced to hire productive contractors  that have proven themselves rather than leaving them contractor forever as some companies like to do) but it just ends up instead that they just get rid of them lol.

 

From what I've read, it's practically impossible to be converted from a contractor to a full-time MS employee.

[Keyser_Soze]

55 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

What appears to be a significant issue with Microsoft as a whole is their stipulation that contractors can only work for them for a maximum period of 18 months (they can return to work for them again after a six-month break in service).  This strikes me as being nothing short of insanity as it all but ensures a high degree of churning/turnover which by itself results in increased costs and project timeline slips.

 

27 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

From what I've read, it's practically impossible to be converted from a contractor to a full-time MS employee.

 

Sounds like me when I worked at Callaway Golf. You could only work 9 months at a time and I was there for nearly 5 years never offered a full time position. At the end of it all they just decided to lay EVERYONE off except sales people. Moved the manufacturing and Mexico, and other great things.

[Kal-El814]

4 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

What appears to be a significant issue with Microsoft as a whole is their stipulation that contractors can only work for them for a maximum period of 18 months (they can return to work for them again after a six-month break in service).  This strikes me as being nothing short of insanity as it all but ensures a high degree of churning/turnover which by itself results in increased costs and project timeline slips.

This is skull fuckingly dumb.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

27 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

This is skull fuckingly dumb.

 

I really can't think of a more appropriate way to describe it.

[Kal-El814]

8 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I really can't think of a more appropriate way to describe it.

I can’t think of a single, sane reason that such a policy could possibly exist. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

21 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

I can’t think of a single, sane reason that such a policy could possibly exist. 

 

It can't even be defended on a "cost control" basis as the ramp-up costs for new contractors would immediately eat away at any savings that would accrue from not having long-term contracts.  This is to say nothing of effectively throwing away the long-term cost efficiencies gained from experience.

 

In the case of 343i, this "contractor churn" would be mitigated somewhat if the studio used an off-the-shelf engine like UE5, but instead they're using their proprietary Slipspace engine which I have little doubt is built upon the foundations of the old Blam! engine which would necessitate getting new contractors familiarized with it which naturally takes time and money.

[Kal-El814]

16 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

It can't even be defended on a "cost control" basis as the ramp-up costs for new contractors would immediately eat away at any savings that would accrue from not having long-term contracts. This is to say nothing of effectively throwing away the long-term cost efficiencies gained from experience.

 

In the case of 343i, this "contractor churn" would be mitigated somewhat if the studio used an off-the-shelf engine like UE5, but instead they're using their proprietary Slipspace engine which I have little doubt is built upon the foundations of the old Blam! engine which would necessitate getting new contractors familiarized with it which naturally takes time and money.

 

Even if they were working on a familiar engine / within a familiar framework, this is still a setup that seems to be, by design, as expensive and inefficient as possible. There's just no way the sprints that contractors would be working on align neatly with that cadence. I really don't understand this at all.

[silentbob]

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

It can't even be defended on a "cost control" basis as the ramp-up costs for new contractors would immediately eat away at any savings that would accrue from not having long-term contracts.  This is to say nothing of effectively throwing away the long-term cost efficiencies gained from experience.

 

In the case of 343i, this "contractor churn" would be mitigated somewhat if the studio used an off-the-shelf engine like UE5, but instead they're using their proprietary Slipspace engine which I have little doubt is built upon the foundations of the old Blam! engine which would necessitate getting new contractors familiarized with it which naturally takes time and money.

 

So maybe there is possible truth behind that rumour that Halo was going to ditch Slipspace and move everything over to the UE5 Guess they can hire people later (cheaper) and don’t need to familiarized them with their engine. I take it UE5 engine would be much more accessible/familiar to most workers in the field.