Longtime Halo developer Frank O’Connor has left Microsoft.
Stephen Totilo shared this news earlier today:
“Microsoft confirms the departure of longtime Halo franchise director Frank O’Connor, who worked on Master Chief’s games for two decades: “We thank Frank for his numerous contributions to the Halo franchise and wish him well going forward.”
At the time of his departure, Frank O’Connor was Franchise Development Developer at 343 Studios. He had his start with the Halo franchise as the writer of the Bungie weekly update all the way back in 2003. He had written those updates for Halo 2 and Halo 3, and along the way, created Mister Chief, a small parody of the franchise’s lead.
Along the way, Frank had written a lot of prose and poetry published as Halo side materials.
This news also follows a suspicious stream of recent departures of longtime Halo staff in Microsoft. For those keeping score at home, that includes:
343 Studios founder Bonnie Ross
343 Studios Art Director Nicolas Bouvier
343 Studios Head of Design Jerry Hook
To add to that were the recent round of layoffs in 343 Industries from the start of the year. This has led to a few rounds of speculation and damage control between the fans and insiders and Microsoft itself.
A rumor spread around that Microsoft decided to ramp down development on Halo Infinite, shifting away from producing that story campaign and focusing on its multiplayer. This, in turn, was due to apparent low sales of Halo Infinite, and management losing faith in the franchise.
In response, another insider came out claiming that current Halo Infinite plans were not changing in spite of the layoffs and departures. 343 Industries would then officially state that development of first person Halo games would continue.
Perhaps Halo fans would not want to admit it, but if the recent acquisition of Zenimax, and the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard King indicates anything, it would be that Microsoft has put Halo on the back burner and are looking for other business opportunities with those companies. That doesn’t mean Halo doesn’t have a future. Obviously Halo Infinite will continue development. It is credible that Microsoft has other ideas they have decided to prioritize in the immediate future, and if anything new and Halo related is in the works, it isn’t likely to be coming out anytime soon.
On the side, we don’t know if Frank O’Connor is retiring, or has plans with a new company, but we owe him our gratitude, as one of the stewards and architects of the Halo franchise. Thank you Frankie!
