When you are the lead develepor of a product, and it comes out with a flaw, literally disappearing is one of the worst things you can do. So when you say I or others are "pinning it on one guy" is actually not the case and is more of a straw man argument than anything. The entire 343 team is to blame, and it's just concerning that the leader of the entire game just went MIA. It's one thing to be quiet, it's another thing to just disappear for months while the game that you had a serious part in making is broken. Like if the leader of the entire damn development can disappear, what does that say for everyone else???
I guess I expected the "Executive Director at 343" to be more vocal than an everyday dev at 343, but I guess I'm in the wrong!
Thought experiment: What is he going to say, as an ambitious member of a much larger division, wholly owned by a massive parent company with wholesale control over your division's PR efforts, who have a microscope on what's going out of your communication channels? More specifically, what is he going to say that a member of 343 has not already?
"We experienced some quality issues with our vendor selection." - Good luck negotiating favorable terms or managing that relationship if those vendors are ever needed again for future products (and this is how corporations work - they'll be used again.).
"The delivery timelines were not realistic." - Turns out that the massive multinational corporation that signs the checks is not on the table to be criticized here.
"I'm sorry!" -- It's been covered. It's been covered and the press reported on it and that part is over for them, they're on to focusing on the fixes in terms of PR. It's not going to happen, and frankly at this point the horse has been beaten into a bloody pulp. Is it right? Hey, that's up to you, I guess.
When you're given an unrealistic project to manage, and you don't get a say in the timelines for delivery, it's not really on you to fall on the sword. It was handled poorly. The entire project is a disaster. It's not really defensible. This one guy, no matter what he needed to say at a launch party, has no obligation to make himself a target for crappy people and the bloodlust that I'm sure he's seen as a public figure related to MCC is a little weird.
That's not to say you're an active proponent of these things or that you condone it - I'm sure you don't, just that I am confident he's had some horrible, horrible stuff directed his way and if I were in his position, I'd shut it all down too. In a heartbeat. The guy's got a family and people are awful.
Moreover, the guy said a lot of stuff pre-release (because that is his job), and as a result I don't think his voice is nearly as effective as it once was in the public eye. That's just a result of him needing to promote a product that didn't turn out well. They're not going to use him for PR when there are more effective voices that they have in their stable, because no matter what, you would see "oh but remember what he said about MCC?" Staying off the radar entirely is probably the best move.
The strange part is in dev circles being open about fixes, patch notes, roadmaps and more is quite transparent with Microsoft. I'm unsure why gaming is/would be any different from that perspective.
Because the gaming audience is, pound-for-pound, more likely to be filled with petulant children that hang onto every word like it's a promise and/or don't understand that things change during product cycles. Transparency hasn't typically worked out super well.
