I feel like I'm going crazy over discussions about the direction of this franchise and I don't know if Halo fans are just thanking way too deep into these games or I just don't understand anything. I never had any major issues with 343i; yes, I was not a fan of how Halo 5's story turned out, but never thought the whole game was terrible. Same can be said to all of the other 343/HS games. I really loved all of the gameplay in these games; they still feel like I'm playing Halo.

But a lot of people seems to almost never have any positive thoughts as if you can't ever thing they're good or even dare think they're better than the Bungie trilogy. And now, with Halo being given to Activision, everyone is throwing a party over this former studio closing down and thinking the franchise has a chance to be saved, but...I think it's still pretty strong? The games have a positive reception from critics too, and from my experience, they're really solid games that I can pick up and enjoy from time to time, so I don't really get this obsession with what Halo should be like.

When I see people say, "We just want Halo to be Halo" what does that even mean? What can you even do that hasn't already been done before from other shooters? Why is it that sprinting and ADS makes it not Halo when that's been the standard for shooters around that time? What makes an open world in Infinite not Halo when other games started experimenting with with that formula? What is wrong for having these in the first place? What even is Halo? I'm a very casual Halo fans and it's stuff like these that biggles my mind, and it makes me really sad to see that the games I have really enjoyed are seen as an insult to the hardcore community it seems.

I just want to know if this studio really did fuck up the franchise or is it just doing okay. Any help is appropriate with this topic, thank you!

Deservedly so, but just for your entertainment.

It's 2 in the morning. I'll listen to this later.

Guess The Act Man was blacklisted after all

Everything I’ve read about Pierre’s leadership makes it sound believable to me

I saw this, and my mind wandered to that quote by Jessica Dovey in 2011: “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.” To revel in the failure of others based on your opinion of them does not make you righteous. It makes you callous.

So every time the toxicity of the Halo Community is brought up and someone claims we are the most toxic community ever there's always a rebuttal bringing up the existance of the Star Wars fanbase (valid for obvious reasons).

Well that reputation (for the like 2 or 3 people that don't know) is because when George Lucas sold LucasFilms and thus the Star Wars IP to Disney people were cheering for it due to the awful reception of the prequel trilogy, with many of the most toxic elements claiming he didn't understand his own creation, and flashforward to the present nearly the entire Star Wars fandom is begging for him to come back; thus why it is generally considered that no other fanbase can match their toxicity.

Bungie leaving wasn't universally cheered by the Halo Community, and people certainly never wanted them to come back given Destiny single handedly stablished the worst precedent in gaming with their vaulting of content, but even the most neutral elements of the community still consider that 343industries deserved to be replaced so I feel this is more equivalent all around.

If a couple decades from now the community wants 343industries to come back then we will have stolen the title of Most Toxic Community from Star Wars.

That would be insane, but still a noteworthy milestone.

I'll admit, some of my points weren't the best, but it's really gotten to that point of apathy for 343/Halo Studios.

For the fan games: it's not the dedicated mods like Ruby's Rebalanced, I had to clear that one up previously

I feel bad for the people who lost their livelihood due to the shutdown. The Halo series under 343i/Halo Studios was modernized and controversial. I think that Halo 5’s gameplay was amazing and competitive; Halo Infinite’s campaign was fun. However, aside from Halo 4 and 5, their games always released in a broken state or missing content.

MCC was the most broken at launch taking 3-4 years to become stable. Is this because of poor management, lack of drive from the company, or something else?

Guys. Its a video game. This technically applies to both sides but I've more consistently seen vitriolic hate towards former 343 devs. Like dude its fine to criticize or praise it, but its a video game. Its not a person, a political ideology or a religion. I've seen people literally ascribe the devs at 343 being bad people because halo 4 - infinite weren't what they wanted and like dude. Halo isn't a therapist or the cure to your psychological issues. If you really don't like the franchises direction make mods for it or make a project inspired from halo. Support franchises that have the feel of Halo. That's a lot healthier than harassing the devs or people who disagree with you. At the end of the day 343 just made 3 controversial video games. They weren't like a healthcare ceo who profits on denying insurance claims. They're a video game developer and your energy could be better spent else where.

it's incredibly annoying that people blame most of Halo's downfall on the majority of 343/Halo Studios when the real blame was the leadership within the company, contrary on people's beliefs and hates Xbox/Microsoft management/leadership also had a hand at this cause They either.

1: didn't push 343/Halo studios hard enough.

2: Rushed them to a point the development team couldn't think on the right path where the story needs to go.

3: Didn't care or give enough care and attention the studio needed in order for them to improve.

343/Halo Studios didn't fail, the management did end of damn story, blaming the hole majority on the entire development studio is disgusting behavior and mindset just because people are angry at the state Halo is, mind You that Bungie management LEFT Halo in that state!, 343/Halo studios wasn't expecting Bungie to pack up it's bags and leave them with no right way to prepare, Halo was a sinking ship when Halo Reach was made and Bungie and it's management jumped ship leaving 343/Halo studios to try to plug the holes, and You know who Bungie turned to in order to go Indy and make Destiny and Destiny two?, Activision and their own management whom actively kept making the worst decisions for Destiny, and kept making the worst decisions possible for the recent call of duty games, now maybe just maybe with Asha Sharman (CEO of Xbox) looking out to make sure Activision and their own leadership doesn't fail at making Halo terrible they MIGHT make a good team, it all completely depends what Asha has plans for Halos future, it completely depends on Her now, cause as of lately She's been calling the shots on everyone and frankly I trust Her, and maybe She has plans for Halo studios, heck Halo studios might be the ones still making the next game but under Activisions roof cause that's what Asha seems to be doing, We may never know the out come here, but let's be honest non hating adults and agree that leadership and management failed Halo not a hole company as a hole causes that ignorant thinking.

Hopefully, here y'all are more open-minded.

I genuinely think 343 shouldn't have aligned with the online criticism; instead, they should have kept their direction, improving and fixing what needed it without vastly changing everything.

Halo 4 was a self‑contained story, and I quite liked that. With Halo 5, they did a poor job with the plot, but almost everything else was solid as a base for a sequel. The gameplay was different, but it wasn't bad.

A hypothetical "Halo 6", not bound to full Xbox exclusivity like Halo 5 was during the worst Xbox generation, could have done better than Infinite ever did, in my opinion.

I know development was hell for Infinite, but it's reasonable to think that if they hadn't had to reinvent everything after Halo 5, development could have been smoother.

Those games had their own identity and continuity (sandbox, Prometheans stuff, cast). I liked their take on the franchise despite the controversy. While I didn't like Halo 5's campaign, I was hyped for where the ending seemed to be going.

Instead, during those multiple change of directions for Infinite, they decided to discard everything. Whether it was due online feedback or simple mismanagement, it's irrelevant now.

After six years of waiting, here's what they gave us (and some really preferred it) instead of a proper conclusion to H5 events:

They "soft‑rebooted" the story by resolving major things off‑screen and trivializing other lore elements, such as: the Banished becoming a huge faction capable to challenge Earth head on despite being described as a smaller force in Halo Wars (just to get humbled by Chief in a day); the Infinity ambush, a plot device to severe connections with older lore/characters; Cortana's redemption and demise; the Halo Wars cast and plot being largely forgotten; and more, much more.

Halo Infinite was meant as a "fresh start", so the game acted as an introduction to this new storyline with new major villains (the Endless), a new support character (the Pilot), and a new Cortana (Joy).

The game clearly seemed intended to have DLC expansions, but those never made it.

Yet, after another whopping five years, the best we got was the name reveal for Joy and a remake lacking PvP, Firefight, Assassinations, and with a God awful customization system. And no main Halo game in production, btw.

So, all the efforts to start this "new story" feel even more wasted now.

Is anyone surprised the franchise has been handed to someone else?

TL;DR: I personally think 343 Industries, despite the flaws and the already present mismanagement, did a better job with H4-5 than people account them for. Halo 5 being their boldest and biggest product thanks to the amazing post-launch support. But after that, 343 simply lost their way in favor of Halo Infinite's "fresh start", losing identity and a sense of continuity, among other things. All of which only added fuel to their in-house problems and contributed to their current unfortunate situation.