What was supposed to be the upcoming Xbox’s crown jewel is turning into something of a headache for Microsoft as several pieces of bad news have emerged this week.
Bloomberg broke the news the other day that “Halo: Infinite” game director Chris Lee has stepped back from the role, Lee withdrawing in August following the infamous Xbox Showcase clip in July which earned ridicule online for the poor quality of its graphics. A few weeks later the game was pushed from this holiday into sometime in 2021.
In a statement to the outlet, Lee confirmed he had stepped back and was “looking at future opportunities”. He marks the third senior development figure to leave the “Halo” franchise in a little more than a year following the reassignment of Tim Longo and the departure of Mary Olson.
In related news via Gamespot, developer 343 Industries recently announced that weapon, vehicle, and player skins in the game will be called “coatings,” and with that announcement fans immediately began expressing concerns over the title being plagued with microtransactions.
Community manager John Junyszek quickly responded to concerns though saying while the game will have a microtransaction store, it won’t be the only way to get customization items which go beyond coatings: “Will there be purchases? Sure. Is that the only way? Absolutely not.”. While the game will have microtransactions, there will be no paid loot boxes and the game’s multiplayer will be free-to-play.
The chatter comes as Bethesda’s Todd Howard, known for his work directing and producing on “The Elder Scrolls” and “Fallout,” series, has told GamesIndustry.biz this week that he expects the company’s major franchises will appear on non-Xbox consoles going forward and said “I would agree that is hard to imagine” the possibility of a title like “The Elder Scrolls VI” being restricted to Microsoft platforms.
However a final decision about multiplatform publishing hasn’t been made as: “We haven’t gone through all of that, to be honest.” Microsoft’s surprise purchase of Bethesda has been seen as their ‘ace in the hole’ in an attempt to regain market share from the dominant PlayStation.
