Former Halo devs say Xbox set the franchise up for failure

It's sort of... sadly unsurprising. We thought Halo Infinite was a much needed return to form for the franchise but we had to wait what felt like half an age to see it. Following the launch, there were controversies over the in-game customisations, PC players suffering severe desync issues, cheaters and subsequent seasons apparently sucking all the fun out of the campaign. The real knife in the heart was the loss of split-screen co-op - a feature that was in the works since 2017. I mean, that's surely a sign that something had gone very, very wrong behind the scenes.

Now, former Halo developers have weighed in on the potential suggestion that Xbox is not prioritising the longstanding shooter series as its flagship franchise. "As a Halo fan I'm really tired of Microsoft business practices & policies slowly killing the thing I love," complained Tyler Owens, who contributed to Halo 5 and now is a build engineer for Apex Legends. "Between the contracting policies they abuse for tax incentives & layoffs in the face of gigantic profits/executive bonuses... they set Halo up for failure."

The layoffs Owens is referring to are the loss of about 11,000 roles across multiple divisions in Microsoft as per reports from earlier this week. "The layoffs at 343 shouldn't have happened and Halo Infinite should be in a better state. 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," claimed former senior multiplayer designer Patrick Wren. He then asked fans to be sympathetic to those still working on Halo Infinite - which hopefully goes without saying.