Halo Franchise Director Frank O'Connor may have left Microsoft

[TubzGaming]

O'Connor has worked on the flagship Xbox series since 2004.​

What you need to know​

• Halo Franchise Creative Director Frank O'Connor may have left Microsoft after working on the series for almost 20 years.
• O'Connor's LinkedIn suggests that he's no longer working with Microsoft and 343 Industries on Halo, though this hasn't been confirmed officially.
• O'Connor has been involved with Halo since 2004, working with Bungie before joining Microsoft in 2008.
• As Franchise Creative Director, O'Connor has contributed to the "creative, narrative, and story development aspects" of many Halo projects.

Halo Franchise Director Frank O'Connor has left Microsoft (Update)

O'Connor has worked on the flagship Xbox series since 2004.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[Johnic]

So another one.

 

[Zzero]

Am I allowed to say "good" again? Drastic measures, sure, but the current team have taken Halo to a bad place with four disappointing games in a row.

 

[Yobo]

Bungie?

 

[Bryank75]

Whats that saying about sinking ships.... ?

 

[Bryank75]

Also

 

[Unchained]

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/halo-franchise-director-frank-oconnor-may-have-left-microsoft

Frank O'Connor, the Franchise Creative Director for Xbox's flagship shooter series Halo, may have parted ways with Microsoft after working on the franchise for nearly 20 years.

O'Connor's LinkedIn page(opens in new tab) has been updated with an April 2023 end date for his time as Halo's Franchise Creative Director, along with a new "NA" role. Though there hasn't been an official confirmation of O'Connor's departure, these changes suggest that he may have left his position.

O'Connor has contributed to Halo since 2004, first authoring the Bungie Weekly Update that began during the development of Halo 2. He remained with Bungie until the developer left to work on its then-new IP Destiny, choosing to join Microsoft and work with its new studio 343 Industries in 2008. He then went on to become Franchise Creative Director and work on the "creative, narrative, and story development aspects" of various Halo projects such as games, novels, and most recently, the Halo TV series on Paramount Plus

If O'Connor has withdrawn from Halo and 343 Industries, his exit is the latest in a series of recent high-level departures. In 2022, Art Director Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier, Head of Design Jerry Hook, Lead Multiplayer Designer Andrew Witts, and others left the studio. 343 Industries Founder and Studio Head Bonnie Ross also left Xbox after leading Halo for 15 years. Additionally, Microsoft cut roughly 10,000employees earlier this year, many of which were developers at 343 Industries.

 

[Vertigo]

Stinkles fucking sucks. Hope he’s done in the industry. Should’ve been fired 20 years ago. MS was stupid enough to give a community manager the creative director gig. Dude was worthless aside from his pathetic peddling of 343’s dogshit at resetera and old gaf.

I see Staten going back to Bungie. But Stinkles…? I see him staying unemployed. Good riddance.

(My opinions on Stinkles are solely based on his on “work” [destroying] Halo and not the reset virtue signal nonsense. Don’t care one bit about that and never will)

 

[Nhomnhom]

 

[Yobo]

Stinkles fucking sucks. Hope he’s done in the industry. Should’ve been fired 20 years ago. MS was stupid enough to give a community manager the creative director gig. Dude was worthless aside from his pathetic peddling of 343’s dogshit at resetera and old gaf.

I see Staten going back to Bungie. But Stinkles…? I see him staying unemployed. Good riddance.

(My opinions on Stinkles are solely based on his on “work” [destroying] Halo and not the reset virtue signal nonsense. Don’t care one bit about that and never will)

He's most likely with Bungie now based on his job description with multiple media . Hasn't left Seattle area:



Could also potentially be Valve, Epic or Sucker Punch in the area too.

 

[Bryank75]

Stinkles fucking sucks. Hope he’s done in the industry. Should’ve been fired 20 years ago. MS was stupid enough to give a community manager the creative director gig. Dude was worthless aside from his pathetic peddling of 343’s dogshit at resetera and old gaf.

I see Staten going back to Bungie. But Stinkles…? I see him staying unemployed. Good riddance.

(My opinions on Stinkles are solely based on his on “work” [destroying] Halo and not the reset virtue signal nonsense. Don’t care one bit about that and never will)

Would be interested in seeing the type of stuff you're talking about.

 

[Vertigo]

Would be interested in seeing the type of stuff you're talking about.

I can’t remember even tho I saw it when it happened. Of course now you just get the drivebys and no context. I was looking briefly at the reee thread for details but just saw the drivebys. He might as well be jk Rowling.

 

[Remij]

I mean... isn't this what is needed? Clearly the management at 343i and Xbox needed to be held accountable and fired.. so this is probably good news.

 

[Vertigo]

I mean... isn't this what is needed? Clearly the management at 343i and Xbox needed to be held accountable and fired.. so this is probably good news.

You have firings and departures. IMO the core problem was just Bonnie and Phil. Outsourcing outside of the studio and wasting game dev time to have people who don’t know how to work with your engine make shit for your game. Losing your workforce is a result of that and I wouldn’t directly blame engineers and designers. That and MS’ nonsensical temporary contractor bs.

And shockingly there is a reality where they could’ve made something of Infinite but Microsoft just looked at the short term results and gutted and killed the project. Shows how much they care eh?

The next halo is a BR that they also won’t have the bandwidth to support with content. It’s not a Master Chief campaign and there may not be one for like 5 years.

Sell it to Sony.

 

[Johnic]

I mean... isn't this what is needed? Clearly the management at 343i and Xbox needed to be held accountable and fired.. so this is probably good news.

Problem is, this is happening on a studio level. Xbox needs new management in its entirety. Almost all of their AAA first party studios have major issues with development. Not all of them can be that incompetent, so the issue must lie with the actual Xbox management.

 

[John Elden Ring]

Halo is fucking dead.

 

[Swift_Star]

Sucks to be an xbot.

 

[Remij]

Problem is, this is happening on a studio level. Xbox needs new management in its entirety. Almost all of their AAA first party studios have major issues with development. Not all of them can be that incompetent, so the issue must lie with the actual Xbox management.

For sure. It's a problem inherent to how Microsoft conducts their game development business at the very core. You don't create well working efficient teams by continually hiring and laying off contractors who ultimately won't give a shit about what they're creating because they'll likely not see the end of it before they're laid off.

That, I believe is the real issue. The high turnover means you're constantly fucking about having to get new people up to speed utilizing the tools and dev environment.. and by the time they do.. their time is up and MS gives them the boot because they don't want to make them actual employees and pay them properly.

They're essentially never going to compete, or be nearly as efficient/productive as Sony's studios due to this. They can have some of the best people working in their teams, capable of amazing things.. and yet due to their shitty policies, will not get anything remotely close to their potential out of them because the teams who they depend on ultimately wont give a fuck..

That is where Sony differs. They hire exceptional talent and build their teams over time to become well oiled units who are much more productive because they can actually see a future within the company. They can see development through to the end and be proud of what they release.. so they care about it more deeply. When a Sony studio loses a key figure, you can usually be relatively certain that the studio has already been curating and cultivating someone just as capable, to take over and lead the studio. With Xbox, a key figure leaves, and it's like... ok.. this shit is dead.

Microsoft really needs to reform their entire game dev practices. It's painfully obvious at this point that Phil didn't implement any changes within the company to address these issues. He likely probably can't because it's a MS corporate policy... so until that changes.. it's very likely that most MS created games are going to continue to suffer from all these issues we're seeing, like delays, performance issues, lack of content.. ect. And if Halo can't escape that fate... than nothing is sacred..

 

[Deleted member 417]

Stinkles. What a prick.
Microsoft should keep him.

 

[Vertigo]

A recently fired 343 dev on ree pretty much had public meltdown in their “halo needing a reboot” thread yesterday. Even went as far as blaming fan rhetoric as to why MS gutted them so hard. Yes, blame the fans. So weak.

Then I had to read a bunch of braindead and stupid suggestions about making halo a third person action rpg because that’s what every 14 year old thinks games should be… because stupid.