All Channels
Popular
350°

Halo Infinite dev explains why modern games are more difficult to make

If you've ever wondered why video games are harder to create than they used to be, you're in luck: 343 Industries' Senior Community Manager, John "Unyshek" Junyszek, recently offered some insightful answers.

annoyedgamer1378d ago

lmao the whining and excuses continue.

Jin_Sakai1378d ago (Edited 1378d ago )

Can’t stand 343i. It’s non stop excuses with this team why they couldn’t make a complete game. And Bonnie Ross should’ve been fired years ago.

abstractel1377d ago (Edited 1377d ago )

I do agree even if I think the comments are a bit harsh. Also, a community manager is explaining why games are more difficult to make? I'd take the words more seriously if it came from an artist or engineer/programmer. There are actually lots of things that make games easier. I'm currently working at a dev and we're using UE5. It's _not_ a magic bullet but, if anyone cares about what I think:

- Not having to do LODs is a time saver. Even more so is not worrying about polygon count (for non-deforming meshes).
- Not having to bake shadow maps is massive time saver.
- Real-time global illumination also speeds up lighting artists' jobs.
- Prototyping gameplay is easier than ever.
- If you have a few good Houdini artists onboard, creating environments is faster than ever.
- Over the last 5-7 years, Substance has become an incredible time saver for texturing.
- UVing is still more or less the one thing that's stayed the same the last decade with very little innovation compared to all the other areas.

Not saying games are becoming cheaper or necessarily easier to make but there are a lot of innovations that have offset the high quality expectations. Since UE5 is so new, only coming out this year (pre-release was available last year) along with the pandemic forcing developers to do cross-gen, I expect next year we'll finally get our hands on what next-gen can truly deliver.

Christopher1378d ago

It's whining to answer someone's question now? It's fine to not like their answer, but let's not just go with "whining".

jjb19811377d ago

Stop enabling. They phukt up a beloved series. Infinite was doo doo. Even on GamePass I feel ripped off. Only the Linear parts felt natural.

awiseman1377d ago

All the western studios are saying the exact same thing to defend their broken, uninspired games.

Chevalier1377d ago (Edited 1377d ago )

Maybe not whining, but, feeding people BS isn't any better. There's many 'modern' games with nowhere near the budget of Halo that do significantly better job than 343. So their take on why it's 'harder' is absolutely excusing the terrible job they have done and continue to do. Just because they have their reasons doesn't make any of the BS they're feeding any more true. If you want to believe the BS being shoveled at you then you're enabling them to not have to improve and hide behind a myriad of equally stupid excuses. Modern gaming isn't the issue, it's that these guys need to look in the mirror and except that they're doing a terrible job.

annoyedgamer1377d ago

This is a cookie cutter excuse. Bungie is saying the same thing. Im sure if the checks to the review websites dont clear in time for the new hipster Saints Row game we will here the same story. Then when fans go online rant they will start yelling "help! threats!"

Gunstar751377d ago

Mate. This site is known for it's brain dead sony zealots.

I only come here for the blood sports.

These children are backwards, even denying facts when they are in black and white.

CobraKai1377d ago

At this point, yes it’s whining. It’s one thing if a small independent development company with a small staff and limited resources said this, but they have unlimited resources with MS. UNLIMITED. What failed with Infinite was not cuz of those bullet points, cuz other developers have those same issues, and they work through it. It was 343 and their lack of focus, direction, and vision.
Here’s hoping they pull a No Man’s Sky, but I’m not holding my breath.

Christopher1377d ago (Edited 1377d ago )

"Everyone's making the same excuses! They're obviously wrong and don't know what they're talking about!" ~ Gamers Who Don't Make Games

***but they have unlimited resources with MS. UNLIMITED. ***

Tell me you don't know how businesses operate without telling me you don't know how businesses operate.

derek1376d ago (Edited 1376d ago )

@Christopher, nobody cares, "we don't embrace excuses, we embrace solutions "

Christopher1374d ago

***@Christopher, nobody cares, "we don't embrace excuses, we embrace solutions "***

No, you don't. When they scale back development so it will work better and release with fewer bugs, you then complain about them removing features.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 1374d ago
Silly gameAr1378d ago (Edited 1378d ago )

I guess truth = whining and excuses now in days.

Do people think that games are made with the powerpuff girl formula? Just throw some s**t in a pot, stir it up, and you get a super powered game? Even the least talented teams have to work hard just to make a game look like a game.

Crows901377d ago (Edited 1377d ago )

Just ask good devs how games are made.
Ask path of exile devs or warframe devs. Go ask devolver digital how they manage their games.

We hear this all the time from garbage developers. Its too expensive. Gamers too demanding. Nope. The landscape has changed! Nope it hasnt.

CobraKai1377d ago

@Crows
Right! Those problems 343 listed are not exclusive to 343. Great developers overcome those issues. And some devs develop for true multi platforms, like Switch and PS5, not just Xbox family and PC.

I was hoping for greatness with Infinite. Instead it was mediocre to the core where I feel 5 was built better. The “open world” didn’t help them either.

yuukiliu1377d ago

then make a AAA game and tell me how easy it is bruh

Yppupdam1377d ago

That's an easy one, Just give him millions of dollars and a team of 50 plus developers, Artists and Writers and and a few years. I'm sure he can bang out something decent. Your statement makes no sense otherwise..."bruh"

TheEnigma3131377d ago

They had a huge budget to hire people to make it easier

brewin1377d ago

Well he's not wrong about any of it. He's not whining either, i don't get this bs narrative about 343. Halo Infinite is a great game. People are complaining there's not enough content and all that, but what's there is pretty damn good. If the worst thing you can say about a game is that you want more of it then isn't that a win? Jesus gamers are so fickle now it's gross.

Chevalier1377d ago

Considering the budget, the amount of time spend making this game and like 2000 people working on it, it's not actually a good result. Settling for these excuses is exactly why they need to make this game is such a mess. Honestly should get the guys who make Doom or Infinity Ward to take over. Wanting more from a incomplete game is a 'win' now? Way to set that bar really low there.

1377d ago
senorfartcushion1377d ago

They’re as hard as they used to be.

The problem is that they’re all designed to be base model systems, to be build upon in the future I.e live service scabby bullshit games with no content

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1374d ago
lelo2play1378d ago

Or you have a talented team to deliver a great game... or you don't have a talented team to deliver a great game.

Until proven otherwise, 343 Industries doesn't have a talented team.

crazyCoconuts1378d ago

According to reports they offshored a large percentage of their development work. It's hard to manage that kind of work effectivity I think

Noskypeno1377d ago

A team of 200 plus developers shouldn't rely on temp contract workers

ChubbyBlade1377d ago

@Noskypeno

343 has 750 employees.

Bungie had less than 200 when they developed halo 3

Noskypeno1377d ago

@ chubbyblade That just makes the 8 month contracts look even more illogical. They should have had employees stay the whole process and find a rhythm. That 6 years turned into 2 because the new guys weren't on the same page.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1377d ago
Abear211377d ago

This. How hard is making the same game over and over. Uninspired and just not good enough, that sums up Halo and the Devs, what do you think they would say? What would CDPR say? It may be hard, but some make it look easy.

Gunstar751377d ago

If Infinite landed from an unknown dev and an unknown franchise it would have blown everyone away.

They could never do right by everyone.

But as crap as you may think, until Sony acquired Bungie they had no team capable of delivering a good AAA fps...

1377d ago
+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1377d ago
-Foxtrot1378d ago

Right but in 2021 you had good games which were completely finished (some better than others - down to opinion) unlike Halo Infinite which had millions spent on it along with more years in development. Not to mention how many people work at 343 where the primary franchise is Halo.

2021 Games

Deathloop, It Takes Two, Resident Evil Village, Returnal, Psychonauts 2, Metroid Dread, Hitman 3, Guardians of the Galaxy, Pokemon Snap, Far Cry 6, Kena Bridge of Spirits so on and on.

brewin1377d ago (Edited 1377d ago )

The majority of those games you listed had no MP aspect and were fairly short games. Halo Infinite campaign was complete and pretty great actually. Some people didn't like the open world but I enjoyed it. That part of the game was pretty complete. What people are complaining about are the extra modes. Things like Forge and Co Op. Which if they didnt like the campaign, why complain about lack of co op? Clearly Halo was a huge undertaking and they focused on getting the campaign and MP out the door.

All those other games had a very specific focus and are single player so you can't really compare them. There were way more moving parts to the complete Halo game than any of those games you mentioned. So you want to compare those to Halo, then sure compare only the SP and suddenly it doesnt look nearly as bad as none of those have the same amount of modes as Halo.

TheColbertinator1376d ago

No point in offering MP, Forge and Co-op to extend a game even if sucks or pushes away long time fans.

Go ask Battlefield 2042 first month players how great a game only focused on multiplayer has become. If a developer claims that they are making a great multiplayer, they have to prove it. I and most other sane gamers on the planet aren't going to waste time and money on a multiplayer train wreck.

Quantity does not always equal quality.

RedDevils1376d ago

Bonnie Ross is that you?

masterfox1378d ago

Imo definitely not think that are getting more difficult, developers are getting lazier.

rCrysis1377d ago

Don’t forget the bloating of management

XbladeTeddy1377d ago

Games are more complex but the development tools have also evolved to help with that so it shouldn't be that much harder overall.

jznrpg1377d ago

Nothing they say publicly at this point is helping . They should try and stay radio silent as much as possible since they don’t want to own up to it . If they have to say something , it should be like “We f’d up and we are going to try and fix it” instead of making themselves look worse with well it’s hard to make a game.
Phil definitely didn’t help by saying it looks great before the first reveal .
He should be critiquing games and letting teams know it’s not good if that’s what is shown and a lot of it is on him as head of gaming studios . But I think Phil isn’t the best judge of game development really but for some reason the xbox fans like him. Not sure why ?? He’s is good at PR but half of what he says is BS.

Show all comments (65)
40°

Exclusive Interview: "Halo: Edge Of Dawn" Author Kelly Gay

from paulsemel.com: In this exclusive Q&A, the author of five previous "Halo" novels talks about this "Halo Infinite" sequel story about Master Chief.

Read Full Story >>
paulsemel.com
rpad114d ago

waiting for Halo: Edge of Seventeen, just like the white-winged dove

beerhound114d ago

These stories do rock a little of my wild heart.

I'll shut up now.

190°

Halo Infinite Content Support Update Ending on November 18

Halo Infinite's live service updates will be ending with Operation: Infinite set to be released on November 18, 2025.

-Foxtrot195d ago

So much for that 10 year platform plan

darthv72195d ago

...and its barely been 4 years. LMAO

DarXyde193d ago

Halo Infinite?
Hell no, It's Finished.

... I'll see myself out.

crazyCoconuts194d ago

Taking the "in" out of Infinite

RaidenBlack193d ago

... and he broke into the attic again and got his drums back.

Yang_kai194d ago

Well good luck with the next game, been on almost all systems will help the game life and strengthen their community with fresh blood.

RaidenBlack193d ago

no MP till Halo 7, as per leak
Don't know if it'll release parallelly with Halo 2R or Halo 3R or totally after the trilogy of remakes.

Inverno194d ago

Onto the next 10 year promise! When that turns out to be more Unreal slop you can drop it and promise the same for the game after.

franwex194d ago (Edited 194d ago )

I’m one of the 15 people that regularly play this. Oh well. Hopefully the game will retain a small dedicated player base.

Show all comments (16)
180°

Halo art director leaves studio after 17 years with ominous message alluding to discontent

Glenn Israel writes: "As of today and after seventeen long years, I am officially no longer contributing to the Halo universe. There is little more I can say for the moment, though I intend to share this particular story in its entirety when it is absolutely safe to do so next year. In the meantime, I have a message for anyone and everyone who needs to hear it.

I know that the state of our industry seems dire, but never forget that you are *free to choose*. No illusion of security nor promise of wealth or fame or power is worth trading away your health, your dignity, your ethics or values - and no one can force you to. Stay strong, take evidence when necessary, and find where you belong."

Read Full Story >>
linkedin.com
Bathyj222d ago

My god.
There's a story for next year.

VenomUK222d ago

I’m really disappointed to learn there are still people/morale problems. I thought the whole point of rebranding 343i to Halo Studios was to signal that real changes had been made - not to cynically rebrand to paper over the problems.

I really hope the Halo CE remake is great and gets people hyped for the future of the series.

DarXyde221d ago

It's inevitable with the modern landscape. Even if some issues have been assuaged, new ones crop up all the time.

I'm willing to bet AI and the lack of regulation is causing substantial upset.

shinXseijuro222d ago (Edited 222d ago )

He said something very marking . We tend to complain a lot about the industry but deep down I realize that we never have we been offered this crazy amount of games all available for you to play now . You can literally play any sorts of games in 2025 . Nobody is forcing you to buy the latest COD or the latest BF . You’re more of a 8 bit cozy gaming guy there’s a whole niche of modern games for that . You like micromanaging there’s games for that . I feel like we have been spoiled so much we just stopped being realistic and thinking for ourselves . We follow trends cry about stuff online when you are the buyer you have the power .

Notellin221d ago

I'm not buying any games until another Immersive sim is made.

PhillyDonJawn222d ago

....wth happened over there?
Does this confirm a new Halo by next year?
What did they want him to do that made him feel it was morally wrong or a insult to his integrity?

-Foxtrot222d ago

Well how about that, a name change doesn’t fix internal issues

Who would have thought

jznrpg222d ago

MS was throwing money around for a long time but now it’s time to pay the Piper.

Show all comments (16)