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Gather round, everybody.
Let me tell you a story about some forgotten behind-the-scenes Halo history for some essential #HaloInfinite
context... // (1/9)
Let me tell you a story about some forgotten behind-the-scenes Halo history for some essential #HaloInfinite
context... // (1/9)
Many people think of Halo 4 as something of a ‘non-standard’ Halo game (not even necessarily in a negative way), as it broke from tradition in some areas.
What you may not know is that 343 is actually documented as having pushed back against a lot of the more ‘out there’ ideas.
What you may not know is that 343 is actually documented as having pushed back against a lot of the more ‘out there’ ideas.
These primarily came from then-creative director Ryan Payton.
There was much ado in September 2011 when Ryan Payton was announced to be departing 343 Industries with “creative differences” cited, Halo 4 was just a year away from release.
There was much ado in September 2011 when Ryan Payton was announced to be departing 343 Industries with “creative differences” cited, Halo 4 was just a year away from release.
People absolutely ran away with the implications of one particular quote.
Source: https://kotaku.com/halo-creative-director-leaving-halo-4-update-5837475
Source: https://kotaku.com/halo-creative-director-leaving-halo-4-update-5837475
Many painted Payton as this champion for what is now nebulously referred to as Classic Halo™, and that 343 weren’t playing ball with his direction because they wanted to do things differently.
In reality, it was the opposite way around.
Source: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history
In reality, it was the opposite way around.
Source: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history
Whether you liked Halo 4 or not, the fact of the matter is that 343 was pushing for that game to stay CLOSER to the traditional Halo formula.
Payton's departure, presented without context, led people to mistakenly speculate the opposite.
Payton's departure, presented without context, led people to mistakenly speculate the opposite.
Payton had fantastic ideas, some of which ended up being implemented in Halo 5's campaign (the weapons-down missions are one such example), but they've proven to be divisive issues in the community.
With these latest transparently nonsense 'leaks' that are doing the rounds today, in which specific individuals who left 343 are mentioned, this strikes me as essential context so that we don't just repeat history again...
For more on this behind the scenes history, I've written about a fair bit of it in this article. https://haruspis.blog/2019/12/06/from-peter-jackson-to-halo-infinite-a-rumination-on-the-prometheans/
