Halo 4 Creative Director Leaves 343 Industries

49
Richard Walker

One of the Creative Directors on Halo 4, Ryan Payton has decided to depart 343 Industries, claiming that he's unable to muster the same kind of passion and excitement towards the project, feeling that the Halo 343 is building didn't match the creative vision he had in mind.

"I had a great run at Microsoft. I don't regret one day of it. But after a few years, there came a point where I wasn't creatively excited about the project anymore," Payton lamented. "The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different and I don't think I had built enough credibility to see such a crazy endeavour through."

Payton worked with Konami on Metal Gear Solid 4 before moving to the US to care for his mother, and despite his waning enthusiasm working on Halo 4, Kotaku reports that he still places a lot of faith in the team currently working on the Master Chief-focused sequel.

Founding new studio, Camoflaj, Payton - inspired by his friend Jake Kazdal's work on indie title Skulls of the Shogun - is already working on two new titles, having previously being diagnosed with depression. "For somebody who loves this industry as much as I do and know how lucky I've been, I never thought I'd get to a point where I was so drained. That was when I knew I had to do something else," said Payton. "I think time is the most valuable thing we have, and I've decided that I'm not going to waste one more day working on something that doesn't speak to my values."

All the best to Ryan Payton and his new studio, Camoflaj. Halo 4 is out in 2012, and you can get a look at Master Chief's new look in the piece of art below.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Comments
49
  • ooo sad new but chief looks awesome
  • Brilliant, first doubts about it already by its staff
  • As long as it has a great story mode and online i dont care.
  • @3 What else is there in a FPS game?
  • I dont know why but im not keen on the new look of Master Chief
  • Comes with the territory.
  • Ooo now we have access to cheifs belly button...I just wanna poke it and see if he makes the pillsbury dough boys giggle...
  • Bungie gave Masterchief a dignified burial. 343 are digging him up.
  • Good. No use working on a project you don't feel passionate about. Best of luck to him in the future! :)
  • Soo... is he secretly trying to say that Halo 4's gonna suck? Or that he himself just doesnt like it? Either way im sure to me itd be awesome.
  • @5 Its too much like a Japanese Anime? That's what I think anyway; too much like the style Halo: Legends used. Anyway I am guessing this guy had visions for Halo 4 that were not very Halo-ish and 343 in his view is sticking too much to halo formula. I mean that's a guess based on his past work such as Metal Gear Solid. He seems like one of those people who puts more importance on making a great game then sticking to the universe. In my opinion that is a type of person a Halo game really doesn't need. I hope he goes well with his indie studio though.
  • I sure hope Halo 4 turns out to be good.
  • People are reading way to far into this. He CLEARLY said the game he wanted to make was too far out of the Halo formula to be made. Not that the game is looking like shit..
  • I feel they're emulating the Dead Space armor a bit much but I still like it. It fits the persona and the environment.
  • @13 He never said the game was too far out of the Halo formula. He said "The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different...". This leads me to think it was sticking to the Halo formula too much in his view and that he wanted something very new and different. Of course this is just my speculation.
  • Is that image available in poster form?
  • @13 Sorry Disregard my post at 15. I read your post wrong, and mine is actually agreeing with you. My bad. I shall whip myself.
  • As long as they trash the horrible Reach Multiplayer and make it like Halo 2 it will be a great game. The story mode is a given
  • i reckon 343 arent doing anything new in halo 4, gonna be exactly the same as all the other halos and ryan payton got fed up of the game not going anywhere, kinda where call of duty is going now.
  • Everyone, no one said the game is going to be crap. The blokes obviously had enough and wanted to do something different. If he was still there and was being unenthusiastic about it, being a "creative director" and being negative would have just made the end result worse. Good for the games sake, and good for the bloke. Both sides win.
  • I now have a bad feeling about Halo4, but on the other hand, I got tired of Halo anyway.
  • it really makes you think, how are you working on a game this big and you are not excited about it? especially if you are a fan. I think something is definitely wrong here and i don't like the looks of it. But maybe he just wanted to change the series too much who knows and you know how microsoft is about their properties remember when they said they wouldn't allow steven speilberg to make a movie about it because they didn't want to screw it up in any way?
  • Don't blame the guy at all. Seeing your franchise milked like this should be the point that all self-respecting developers up-sticks and leave. Unfortunately many do not have the balls to do so.
  • The new chief does not look awesome. No codpiece? Good idea?? NO! Why aren't they using the H2/H3 armour design?
  • I can't blame him, I've felt/am feeling career burnout too. But I do find the "he still places a lot of faith in the team currently working on the Master Chief-focused sequel" line is somewhat contradicted by the "I've decided that I'm not going to waste one more day working on something that doesn't speak to my values" bit. Odd. I'm going to buy, I'm going to play. But we'll see where it stacks up. So long as it's fun.
  • No offense, but these are the developers games. People are well entitled to their opinions but these people make the games. Granted, without the fans, there would be no franchises but still, these people started by making something you knew nothing about and loved from the beginning. Now, every fanboy and so on HAS to get their little stamp and word in for the change of the franchise. Not saying that Bungie/343/MS would've given us perfection over the entire course but when you put even the slightest decision making in the hands of those that not only have probably limited knowledge in story building/pacing/etc, you're going to get more than mixed results. I would bet my bottom dollar that anyone commenting in any thread like this soapboxing "what should/shouldn't be" in a game, needs to get into the drivers seat. Go make a game. Spend years and time and money beyond recognition to the point where you have people begging you to release it that day. Then, take in the scrutiny, opinions and judgement that every one of you pass onto the current developer b/c I will guarantee, it will happen to you. But we all know the chances are that happening are slim to dick.
  • @25 of course he has to say that "he still places a lot of faith in the team currently working on the Master Chief-focused sequel' otherwise it would look bad for the game and affect sales etc
  • Doesn't really bode well for halo 4 o_O
  • Drained? Slacker.
  • @18 The story is the only thing that's in question right now. There hasn't been a really good Halo Campaign in terms of storytelling since ODST. I know it isn't very removed, but Halo CE was good, Halo 2 was alright, and Halo 3 was just flat out forced. Reach, while good, was not very well written and executed. Too short, too little dialogue for the story scope they wanted to tell. The characters were too flat and one dimensional and that is bad in a character driven narrative. I question whether Halo 4 will have a good story to it because to be honest nothing has thrilled me story wise since ODST, and even that wasn't great, but merely good and refreshing from the normal pace the last two numbered Halos were. In a nutshell, this news bothers me. Hopefully his vision was bad and what 343 is doing is good... but we'll see. I trust the guys at 343 for the most part, but I don't trust Microsoft.
  • Should just let Reach be the last game...
  • Oh well. Wasn't too interested in Halo 4 anyway. I was actually disappointed when it was announced at E3. Seriously, MS has the resources to get a some new IP's fired up, but still they choose to follow the money. I've enjoyed the series, but it feels like it has run its course. Especially if the next title doesn't mix things up.
  • not digging this new Chief armour
  • @ 33 - It's still much riskier to shell out for a brand new IP than it is to stick to your guns that are still working.
  • Sounds like someone is crying about not getting their way, I'm sure halo 4 is still going to be great, just not great for Ryan Payton.
  • Why is it that no one is seeing the real point here? The guy left because he couldn't get Halo 4 to follow his lead. He wanted to craft Halo 4 into his own personal masterpiece. He's angry that his ideas got thrown out (Go to youtube, look up "Leaked Halo 4 Animation", see for yourself), and now he's bailing. I don't know all that much about him, but one things for sure. I real man toughs it out till the end. He should've at least waited till the project was finished. His leaving now bespeaks bitterness on his part, as in this VERY topic, people are beginning to wonder if Halo 4 will be any good. Payton is no fool, but he appears to be an egotistical story artist with the attitude of a three year old. My faith STILL rests in 343i. I don't know how you could possibly be doubting them any more with all they are doing with Halo: Anniversary and the Halo: Reach Title Update. @The NEW MASTER CHIEF ARMOR: Guys, this is NOT the armor that will be in Halo 4. 343i said at the Halo 4 Panel at HaloFest during PAX Prime 2011 that they have gone through THREE revisions of the armor since that concept. We'll be seeing the REAL MC armor eventually.
  • He has done more than enough to appeal to us fans, I give him permission to rest
  • @ 37 - 343 handled the entire production of the Defiant Map Pack on Reach and it felt fine to me. I have little to no worries. My worries are always the same. The whiners who can never adapt and take adaptation as an insult. Though I'm sure when school ended/ends and their parents give them the whole Adaptation rant, it's going to be one rude awakening. " (imitating child) 'I'm not happy, I'm not happy' -NOBODY'S happy! Happiness comes in small doses folks. It's a cigarette butt, or a chocolate chip cookie or a five second orgasm. You come, you smoke the butt you eat the cookie you go to sleep wake up and go back to fucking work the next morning, THAT'S IT! End of fucking list![imitating people who complain that their lives (or GAME) haven't turned out the way they wanted] Hey, join the fucking club! I thought I was going to be the starting center fielder for the Boston Red Sox! Life sucks, get a fucking helmet!" - Dr. Denis Leary
  • I personally don't blame the guy. You can only do so much with an FPS that mainly involved jumping, rockets and teabagging. Hell, I'd get bored too...
  • I can't say I blame him. I've got to admit, I have waning excitement about Halo 4 as well. Just to give a few examples of why: 1. The work culture between Bungie and 343 Industries is quite fundamentally different. To sum it up, Bungie works to create games that they would want to play, and 343 Industries works to create "excellent" games. There is a fine distinction, and sometimes the former is the better of the two. 2. The soundtrack I've heard so far, despite not being substantial or representative of the final project, sounds much more Mass Effect than Halo. This really gets me because the music was a huge part of Halo in my opinion. 3. The fact that Halo 4, 5, and 6 were all announced at once, despite this being kind of a cliched stigma, irks me. While this isn't a measuring stick for the effort going into each game, it just means that while I play through Halo 4, I'll be looking for signs of Halo 5 toward the end. It just seems it'll be predictable. I realize these aren't substantial reasons for being hesitant, but they're mine nonetheless. Really the thing that scares me is the different work culture between Bungie and 343 Industries. That's the biggest shift in the franchise, visible from all of the extras you'll find tons more of recently, like the anime, short stories, action figures, etc. But all considered, I can see why this man left. It's an enormous pressure, and Halo 4 is bound to be a rather different game from the previous installments.
  • Couldn't agree with the guy more, if something doesn't have meaning to you then there's no point in doing it. @ 39 I thought the Defiant maps were good but not great. To me it felt like there wasn't any balance to them. Unearthed is just too big, Condemned is too much like a maze, and Highlands turned out to be a sniper's wasteland with some crazies running around in a Warthog. Not saying they can't/couldn't do better, it just feels like they lack the refinement that Bungie had/has. Still have high hopes for the new Trilogy.
  • @42: They also visibly lacked a level of visual polish, IMO. For example, the Cruisers on Highlands are very, very ugly if you actually stop and look at them - and most people do. The skybox on that map is also very poorly-done, with this inexplicable divide right through the middle. And yes, that map typically ends up playing like a sniper wasteland, no matter what gametype you play. It's typically a sniper camping the base with the better view, the other sniper trying to camp a shotgun spawn, and a guy running around with a 30-round Shotgun through the buildings and teleporters racking up streaks. Overall, the midsection of the map is rarely used, along with anything besides sniper and shotgun. I do think Condemned plays like a dream, though. Once you get a hang of the setup, it's a blast of the map - my only gripe is that you're a little too encouraged to play in the middle, where it's hard to hear things behind you, use the radar, and strafe well.
  • comments on here are all negative...freaking downers...the game is over a year away give it a chance...geez
  • So master cheif is in cryo and when he gets out bam hes wearing new armor WTf hope they change his armor somwhere in the game unlike mass effect 2 End game of 1 2 starts suddenly shepard liara and ashley all have new armor out of nowhere when... Also #37 sorry sir your first point is rather stupid "a real man toughs it out till the end" yeah the creative director who has depression should be a "real man" and hate his job make halo suck piss off hundreds off fans then get shot by a crazed halo junkie that dead man is a "real man"
  • Do we still not get an explanation as to how Chief's armor magically changes? His helmet changed between CE and H2, it stayed the same for H3, and now it's this... Thing.
  • Chief looks smaller than i remember, and that helmet is very Combat Evolved.
  • i dont want a new kind of halo experience. i want a classic halo experience. halo is halo is halo. when reach came out it put to shame everything that halo was. trying to clone modern warfare with classes, etc. i am glad that 343 is taking over and promising classic halo. modern warfare sell millions of copies as does madden and many other successful franchises without drastically changing the way the game is played. that is what makes a franchise a frachise and that is what keeps the money rolling in cause people want to see what is new but they also want certain things to remain the same. Reach was and still is crap because Bungie (i.e. a microsoft studio) decided to change everything up. they took and a risk and it back fired and now hardcore halo fans hate it. so 343 who are die hard fans and who will listen to what the fans want are going to make a great game starting with new revamped reach update and the release of Halo CE and then Halo 4, 5, and 6 (or however they do it). so good ridance anyone who would want to "try something new" i would rather have people work on these games who would say "what do fans want to see" or "what can we incorporate from the past halos that made them stand out". NO MORE RISKS! better graphics and new weapons and maps is all that we halo fans want and need!
  • well...halo's gonna suck
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