343i is dead, renamed Halo studios.

I'm lost too. Not sure why people are attacking her here.
I Dont Believe You Will Ferrell GIF

"Melissa joined Xbox Research in the summer of 2015. After earning her BA in psychology from Spelman College in 2008, Melissa went on to complete her PhD in social psychology and public health from Columbia University. Her research in public health focused on how people's social interactions influenced their risk for HIV and substance abuse – particularly with African Americans and Latinx folks, LGBTQ+ people, and women – but also how these people's personal resilience could be developed and supported to help them avoid poor health outcomes.

Melissa did a stint conducting market research in video games – which was so much fun it inspired her to make the leap to the games world. Currently, Melissa manages research across several Xbox franchises and experiences, including Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, Double Fine Studios, and the Xbox Store. She also leads research in diversity, inclusion, and accessibility across Xbox's games and experiences, with a focus on making Xbox a place where everyone has fun!"

Now I get that you're pretty much down with all of this, and that's your right... but pretending you just can't fathom why anyone would have an issue with her is fucking hilarious.
 
Ok, now give me an awesome new Halo to play. Thanks!

Edit: Never mind. Halo is fucked with this person running it. RIP.

"Melissa joined Xbox Research in the summer of 2015. After earning her BA in psychology from Spelman College in 2008, Melissa went on to complete her PhD in social psychology and public health from Columbia University. Her research in public health focused on how people's social interactions influenced their risk for HIV and substance abuse – particularly with African Americans and Latinx folks, LGBTQ+ people, and women – but also how these people's personal resilience could be developed and supported to help them avoid poor health outcomes.

Melissa did a stint conducting market research in video games – which was so much fun it inspired her to make the leap to the games world. Currently, Melissa manages research across several Xbox franchises and experiences, including Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, Double Fine Studios, and the Xbox Store. She also leads research in diversity, inclusion, and accessibility across Xbox's games and experiences, with a focus on making Xbox a place where everyone has fun!"
 
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They got rid of the people who put making videogames in second place yet people here still acts/pretends nothing has changed
 
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I Dont Believe You Will Ferrell GIF

"Melissa joined Xbox Research in the summer of 2015. After earning her BA in psychology from Spelman College in 2008, Melissa went on to complete her PhD in social psychology and public health from Columbia University. Her research in public health focused on how people's social interactions influenced their risk for HIV and substance abuse – particularly with African Americans and Latinx folks, LGBTQ+ people, and women – but also how these people's personal resilience could be developed and supported to help them avoid poor health outcomes.

Melissa did a stint conducting market research in video games – which was so much fun it inspired her to make the leap to the games world. Currently, Melissa manages research across several Xbox franchises and experiences, including Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, Double Fine Studios, and the Xbox Store. She also leads research in diversity, inclusion, and accessibility across Xbox's games and experiences, with a focus on making Xbox a place where everyone has fun!"

Now I get that you're pretty much down with all of this, and that's your right... but pretending you just can't fathom why anyone would have an issue with her is fucking hilarious.

What exactly do you think a Chief of Staff does exactly? You're acting as if she's the lead animator, lead character designer, or Director of the next Halo game. She's Chief of Staff.........Her educational resume and work resume makes her qualified for the job.

So are you saying all 343i employees should have been fired or something? Or are you going down the whole DEI alley? What are you doing here?


I don't give a shit about the "Chief of Staff" which is just a fancy "Office Manager"

Who else is in charge of the studio? Director of Engineering? Creative Director? Their website literally goes to a 404 page when clicking We are Halo Studios

Exactly! I'm at a lost as to why Melissa of all people keeps getting shitted on. She's chief of staff. I understand she actually is black with purple hair, so maybe that's a trigger for many here. I don't know.
 
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Here's hoping that with a new name comes new management and new development approaches. Halo hasn't been a marquee franchise for a while but it could be goddamnit
 
Even if the CoS doesn't have direct creative influence, the staff they're hiring and retaining certainly do.
 
Even if the CoS doesn't have direct creative influence, the staff they're hiring and retaining certainly do.
Yeah, Chief of Staff usually doesn't do much on the operational side, it's one of those positions that exists so that those people inexplicably on the magic fast track can get seasoned a bit while being in a highly visible position where they can interact with a lot of senior people, so that when they do get hand picked to be put into a position of authority they have the connections already. Next job will probably be a high level product or brand manager or something like that - maybe high up on a research or marketing team.

This person probably spends a lot of time sending calendar invites for other people, but when those invites include people like Phil Spencer or Sarah Bond it certainly helps the career along.
 
Of all the things wrong at 343, is this most important to champion? Plus the news re engine change has been known for years.

What sort of a grip has MS got on Halo development after all this time? Can't get excited about something 5 / 6 years away, especially wuth their track record.
 
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Ok, now give me an awesome new Halo to play. Thanks!

Edit: Never mind. Halo is fucked with this person running it. RIP.
Oh fuck...she doesn't have direct experience in the games industry in leadership or software development or launching a product?
 


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Concord lives.

I'm lost too. Not sure why people are attacking her here.

People are colour blind, where there is rainbow they see only red.

She comes across as decent enough in that vidoc tbh. At least she doesn't want everyone calling her Prof or some bullshit.

Hey long as she's about making a great game, has the skills, and isn't lashing out at fans calling them istaphobes (or making everything about identity politics), she's cool with me.

So we'll see if they actually do that or, well, you know :/....
 
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Being a straight white male going to the job interview . . . need to think of something . . . gotta turn this around . . . "sometimes, when I see something so beautiful, like a flower in the sunlight, i shed tears of joy and just want to spread love to those around me"
 
Hopefully they fired the people who thought it was a good idea to launch Infinite without team slayer and battle royale. I'll keep playing Halo 3 at 240fps until they make a game that actually feels like Halo again. That's not just a dig at 343 either since Reach's multiplayer was the beginning of the end.
 
I'm at a lost as to why Melissa of all people keeps getting shitted on. She's chief of staff. I understand she actually is black with purple hair, so maybe that's a trigger for many here. I don't know.
Her presence reeks of a broader problem within that studio. Where there's smoke there's fire basically.

Halo will be judged harshly with or without her. But as soon as the internet catches a whiff of DEI fuckery it's sorta the beginning of the end until proven otherwise.
 
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Being a straight white male going to the job interview . . . need to think of something . . . gotta turn this around . . . "sometimes, when I see something so beautiful, like a flower in the sunlight, i shed tears of joy and just want to spread love to those around me"


The overweight female interviewer would text the police reporting that a creep is hinting at his raping intentions.

You would leave the building handcuffed.
 
What exactly do you think a Chief of Staff does exactly? You're acting as if she's the lead animator, lead character designer, or Director of the next Halo game. She's Chief of Staff.........Her educational resume and work resume makes her qualified for the job.

So are you saying all 343i employees should have been fired or something? Or are you going down the whole DEI alley? What are you doing here?

Exactly! I'm at a lost as to why Melissa of all people keeps getting shitted on. She's chief of staff. I understand she actually is black with purple hair, so maybe that's a trigger for many here. I don't know.
Seems pretty obvious the concern is due to her being very deep into DEI. The chief of staff is an advisory position that coordinates with a lot of leadership and has a hand in hiring. So the culture of 343 and the people who make it are going to be influenced by her.

Does that mean the game is screwed? No. It raises eyebrows though. There seems to be one hell of a correlation between DEI and the desolation of beloved works. Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Halo, the Witcher, just about anything from Disney and Marvel these days, Willow, Saints Row. Then there's shit like Crunchyroll's localizers completely changing dialogue rather than translating it. The list goes on. DEI isn't the sole reason any of these works failed. Hell it might not even be the reason itself. It does however seem to be a common denominator between people who want to reshape things in their image rather than holding true to the source material.
 
Seems pretty obvious the concern is due to her being very deep into DEI. The chief of staff is an advisory position that coordinates with a lot of leadership and has a hand in hiring. So the culture of 343 and the people who make it are going to be influenced by her.

Does that mean the game is screwed? No. It raises eyebrows though. There seems to be one hell of a correlation between DEI and the desolation of beloved works. Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Halo, the Witcher, just about anything from Disney and Marvel these days, Willow, Saints Row. Then there's shit like Crunchyroll's localizers completely changing dialogue rather than translating it. The list goes on. DEI isn't the sole reason any of these works failed. Hell it might not even be the reason itself. It does however seem to be a common denominator between people who want to reshape things in their image rather than holding true to the source material.
Very deep into DEI? how you figure that? and what on earth does one do to qualify for it?

She has pride flag as far as i can see. Thats it.
 
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Step in the right direction. If they f this up; fans will request a true culling of the studio. Would be interesting if the industry has a scenario of vets of Og franchises returning as main dev input (brain), new talent as the hands/feet of the operation and new features as simply optional.
 
What is with every studio doing UE5? Is this the only 3rd party AAA game engine around? I miss games being made on different engines and artstyles looking unique.
Unreal 5 also is heavy, it doesn't improve performance at all and takes a ton of computational power from what has been put out on it.

As for Halo, changing the name of the studio isn't going to help you.
 
You can't be serious...
Yep i am. Im not part of the mob with zero brains fortunately.

what little experience i have of this woman she seems like a nice person. Do you know more? care to enlighten me?

What crimes against gaming is she being accused of?
 
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What is with every studio doing UE5? Is this the only 3rd party AAA game engine around? I miss games being made on different engines and artstyles looking unique.
Unreal 5 also is heavy, it doesn't improve performance at all and takes a ton of computational power from what has been put out on it.

As for Halo, changing the name of the studio isn't going to help you.
Dev cost. Two options relocate all devs out of the western world or use the most known engine that is differentiated by specs. If this industry is going where I think it is; multiple ecosystems all intersecting with one (pc) then UE plus mods is the best choice. Remember msft uses contract workers @18 months avg.
 
Pretty impressive how they are making things even worse than they already are for Halo. But that seems to Microsoft's mantra as a whole. Solid proof that the 360 was lightning in a bottle and will never be repeated.
 
Yep i am. Im not part of the mob with zero brains fortunately.

what little experience i have of this woman she seems like a nice person. Do you know more? care to enlighten me?

What crimes against gaming is she being accused of?
You clearly have zero brains if you can't figure it out. Hint: her entire existence is being a DEI caricature which no doubt permeates the entire studio. Why is that needed to make a successful dudebro shooter? <-- rhetorical question btw

Do you think she's the new real Master Chief?
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Look, if this doesn't raise any alarms for you, more power to ya. The last thing Halo needs is more uncertainty looming over it, especially after a decade of failure.
 
probably part of the restructuring started with all those closed studios

some people would see it as desperate, but Sony went through a similiar revolution back in the ps3 era and it paid off

of course what will ultimately matter is how good this restructuring goes and if they put the right people at the helm, because so far microsoft has not lacked the time nor money to make great first party games, so the lacking part must be management
 
You clearly have zero brains if you can't figure it out. Hint: her entire existence is being a DEI caricature which no doubt permeates the entire studio. Why is that needed to make a successful dudebro shooter? <-- rhetorical question btw

Do you think she's the new real Master Chief?
A1l+UBn8jGL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


Look, if this doesn't raise any alarms for you, more power to ya. The last thing Halo needs is more uncertainty looming over it, especially after a decade of failure.
Probably all true, but if we judge people based just on what they look like you are no better than the crazies that claim all white men are racist. If she turns out to be crazy and unqualified it will come out soon enough, there is no need to jump to conclusions.
 
You clearly have zero brains if you can't figure it out. Hint: her entire existence is being a DEI caricature which no doubt permeates the entire studio. Why is that needed to make a successful dudebro shooter? <-- rhetorical question btw

Do you think she's the new real Master Chief?
A1l+UBn8jGL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


Look, if this doesn't raise any alarms for you, more power to ya. The last thing Halo needs is more uncertainty looming over it, especially after a decade of failure.

Nobody was talking about Bonnie Ross?

Maybe i missed that bit im on my phone with a shitty internet connection.

Edit:Ah i think i get you. Yeah i dont form negative opinions about someone due to a pride flag or how they look, if that was the case I'd hate my whole town.
 
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