343 brings in new leadership to ‘help ship’ Halo Infinite

343 Industries has brought in a pair of Halo veterans to help ship its delayed shooter Halo Infinite.

As first reported by Bloomberg, Bungie veteran Joseph Staten has been made project lead of Halo’s campaign mode. Staten worked on the very first Halo titles, mostly focusing on story and characters.

“As product lead on Halo Infinite, however, Joseph will be focused on supporting the campaign team’s existing, talented, creative leaders and ensuring they have everything they need to create an awesome Halo game,” 343 later confirmed.

Staten had spent the past few years working inside the Xbox team, after leaving Bungie prior to Destiny’s release.

Additionally, another senior developer in Pierre Hintze, who was the head of publishing for the Master Chief Collection, has been assigned to take charge of Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer mode.

“He and his team have demonstrated an amazing ability to deliver new content, an excellent flighting program, and substantive updates across MCC over the past year,” 343 said.

Microsoft confirmed that Halo Infinite had been delayed into next year earlier this month.

Following its gameplay reveal, Halo Infinite’s visual fidelity faced widespread criticism from the media, fans and even big brands, who highlighted issues with both the game’s art direction and the perceived lack of advancement since the last Halo game.

343 Industries had previously acknowledged criticism of the game’s graphics and told fans it was taking the feedback “very seriously”.

It was suggested this month that as part of the delay, 343 was considering dropping the Xbox One version of Halo Infinite – claims which the developer itself later denied.

further reading

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