Wow. What can I say. No wonder the game didn’t turn out like it could have. Everyone was feeling the pressure of deadlines. And it sounds like MS really wanted 343i to just make them money.
Hopefully team cohesion at 343i can improve for Halo 5.
Interesting o_O, thanks for the post.
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Lol sounds about right .
It’s kinda how i assumed it all went. This is confirmation.
This information definitely needs to be more widespread, so few people realize that the life of a game developer is very hard indeed due to these extreme hours, especially once the game’s release is coming near. It’s not rare for devs to work 80 hour weeks, if not more, just to get the game to completion.
> This information definitely needs to be more widespread, so few people realize that the life of a game developer is very hard indeed due to these extreme hours, especially once the game’s release is coming near. It’s not rare for devs to work 80 hour weeks, if not more, just to get the game to completion.
I take nothing away from the 343i team and their hard work, they have all put their blood, sweat and tears into Halo. I thank them for their dedication.
However that said, the games industry does not have a monopoly on hard work. Take a look at charity or volunteer staff, business owners, CEO’s, international traders, code developers, doctors, attorneys, parents working two jobs to support families and the list goes on.
Once again I know the games industry/343i work ridiculous hours and they should be appreciated for it but they aren’t the only passionate workers/industry around.
Developers need a panic room, Throw a few keyboards here and there. Release the stress instead of bottling up during developement. Or to be more logical a punching bag. 
Not easy being a developer.
I grant that making games is hard and that working under the “benevolent dictator” that is Microsoft is likely stressful. But that said, I still can’t help but feel 343i made plenty of mistakes on their own accord.
Though someone made a joke about the Grunts anatomy changing, I feel it is pretty important. The Covenant have been a part of Halo since the beginning and have has a fairly consistent look, yet 343i decided to change a lot of stuff. Grunts, Jackals, the coloration of vehicles. Was it to put their mark on Halo? Is that really a good thing? If I inherited the Star Wars franchise and decide to make Stormtrooper armor look like MJOLNIR armor because I felt that was what I wanted while telling the fans I have a reason for it, but never saying what, the fanbase would rightfully be upset with me. That is taking something they hold dear and changing it because I can. That is not right.
I don’t even want to try to comprehend the removal of custom game options, gametypes, the Elites and Theater from Campaign and Spartan Ops. If I had been given Halo, I just can’t see how I would be able to -Yoink- of all that up. I simply can’t.