5 Times Gamers Fought The Developer And Won

The initial Halo trilogy was so beloved that it almost single-handedly put Xbox on the map while turning protagonist Master Chief into the console’s flagship mascot. Therefore, 343 Industries had a lot to live up to when they took over franchise developmental duties from Bungie in the early 2010s. Sadly, and despite being positively received overall, 2012’s Halo 4 and especially 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians failed to deliver what fans wanted.

That’s why the sixth mainline entry – which was meant to be a November 2020 launch title for Xbox Series X/S – was met with hope and hesitancy when its announcement trailer premiered at E3 2018. Over the subsequent years, numerous flaws both pre-release and post-release continued hurting Halo Infinite’s reputation, with some of the biggest issues temporarily derailing the game’s chances at finally restoring the series to its former glory.

Probably the most infamous and humorous transgression came during the summer of 2020, when the first gameplay trailer was lambasted for its disappointing graphics.

In particular, the openly work-in-progress footage depicted Master Chief fighting some Brutes, including one – forever known as Craig – whose blank expression quickly birthed a thousand memes. Although Craig was fun to mock – even by 343 Industries’ Community Director, Brian Jarrard – franchise loyalists still demanded that Halo Infinite’s outdated graphics be improved by launch.

Famously, Eurogamer encapsulated the negative feedback by writing: “[It] looks like the fake plastic trees version of Halo, like a video game designed with Mega Bloks in mind. It pops in all the wrong places. The Brutes and their silly faces seem almost plonked down onto the battlefield like a child would arrange toys to bash about in their bedroom. It doesn't feel grounded. It doesn't feel like it has depth. It feels, well, surface level, smooth and uninteresting.”

The backlash against Halo Infinite’s graphics was so strong that in August of 2020, the title was postponed to sometime in 2021.

Responding to the hostile responses, the game’s Narrative Experience Director – Dan Chosich – told critical gamers: “I've been in your shoes. I know what it's like to have expectations built + feel let down. I want you to know your voice matters + is heard. You're not falling on deaf ears. I always want to live up to the legacy that Bungie pioneered. I personally care a lot about honoring that.”

As Studio Head Chris Lee explained at the time, the delay was made to “ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision.” Similarly, Character & Combat Director Steve Dyck disclosed in October of 2021 that the “positive outcome” of the Craig debacle was that it exemplified “343 working with and aligning with the Halo community around expectations.”

Eventually, news broke that the August 2020 delay was also the result of the team deciding to bring back veteran writer Joseph Staten to revise Halo Infinite’s story direction. Initially, 343 Industries intended to pick up where Halo 5: Guardians’ story left off; yet, that campaign was so divisive that they chose to significantly downsize the Guardians’ role in the sequel and change Staten’s role to Head of Creative to safeguard against narrative shortcomings in Halo Infinite.

Then, in August of 2021, Halo Infinite’s multiplayer beta arrived, and while players commended 343 Industries’ advanced gameplay, they also criticized the beta’s slow Battle Pass progression system.

Consequently, the studio updated things so that players earned more XP for various daily goals and challenges, with community manager John Junyszek tweeting in late November of 2021: “We know many of you want even larger changes and we're committed to doing so, but those will take time. We made this update based on data and player feedback, and we'll monitor its impact after we push it live tomorrow morning.”

Those are but three chief components of Halo Infinite that drew ire and were subsequently fixed thanks to the relationship between 343 Industries and Halo’s diehard devotees. True, other issues have cropped up – and Halo Infinite remains imperfect – but its December 2021 launch was far more successful critically and commercially than it might’ve been if the developer never listened to the fans.

Of course, Halo Infinite has only gotten better from there, and 343 Industries even threw in a Craig Easter egg to further poke fun at themselves and let bygones be bygones.