A former Halo art director of 17 years, who recently made some pretty damning allegations against the studio, has now taken a Gravity Hammer to common misconceptions around the storied franchise. Top of the list are those “devs hate Halo” allegations that fans frequently throw around.
Earlier this month, Halo Infinite’s art director and a former series veteran Glenn Israel accused senior Halo Studio staff of “numerous unethical and/or unlawful acts,” including blacklisting and “multiple harassment campaigns.” But he’s now turned his gaze to fans theories in a tell-all social media post.
First up, “devs hate Halo.” Israel says “this just isn’t true” because Halo Studios, previously 343 Industries, “only hired fans, and while there may be truth to the idea that they hired some fans who were willing to express critical opinions on the franchise, or had ideas about how it might evolve or improve, that’s true of every single fan here,” over on Reddit. “No one works a sixty- or eighty-hour week out of spite. No one risks their health or their friendships or their sanity to spit in your eye.”
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The proverbial joke about no one hating on [x franchise] more than its fans is especially true with Halo, as each entry and each era has its mix of both passionate fans and detractors. Israel is right to point out that, theoretically, you could plop 100 people from the series subreddit and still not come to a consensus about what Halo should be.
“I’ll reiterate, the studio I knew only hired fans,” Israel adds “They agree with you more than they’re allowed to say. I’ll also reiterate that, early on, super-fandom in the studio for the “extended universe” was a real problem – the narratives were too dependent on lore the average player did not know and would not be motivated to discover in a book or a comic.” Looking at you, Halo 4.
Finally, the long-time Halo dev then takes aim at allegations that DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) “ruined” the franchise. Israel explains that Microsoft had emphasised diversity and inclusion across the company, but people shouldn’t “get lost in the fog of culture war” because he was “never asked to raise one voice or silence another [and] never had a ‘quota’ to fill.”
“My interpretation of the policy (and the guidance I gave to my reports) was that D&I is as much about diversity in thought and inclusion in opinion as it is in identity, about recognizing and setting aside one’s assumptions about a group to engage with someone fairly as an individual,” he writes. “In practical terms, it might just mean making sure that the introverted genius in the corner who knows their manager is making a mistake feels safe enough to speak.”
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He then sums it all up pretty succinctly: “Halo is stronger when all Spartans are welcome.” Hear, hear.
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