Halo Infinite Lead Producer, Mary Olson, has reportedly left 343 Industries and joined Midwinter Entertainment, a new game studio working on its debut game, Scavengers. The news of the departure comes quietly via an update to her LinkedIn profile. Olson has accepted the position as Head of Production at the new studio. It’s unclear what exactly led Olson to give up her role at 343 but it has definitely rattled a large mass of players patiently waiting on the release of Halo Infinite.
This is not the first but second lead developer to part ways with 343 since the announcement of the game. This most recent departure follows the departure of Tim Longo, former Creative Director of 343 in August of this year. The studio was quoted as saying:
Roles and responsibilities of various team members regularly evolve to meet the needs of a game, throughout development. We have recently had two changes to the Halo Infinite development team. Our Executive Producer, Mary Olson will now take charge of the Campaign team on Halo Infinite as the Lead Producer, utilizing her many years of experience at 343 to help craft a great campaign for fans.
As we now know, Longo’s successor has now since departed. Considering the loss of two lead producers of the game it lends the question, “should we be concerned?”. 343 says that there is no reason to panic. While the studio seems to be having an issue with upper level turnover, 343 insists that there is nothing to look too deep into.
Community Manager for 343, Jon Juynyszek, said in response to a post on Reddit “I’d like to reassure everyone that the entire Halo Infinite team is rallying behind the game and is working hard to make sure we can execute on its vision.” Juynyszek goes on to explain that Olson took over as a Lead Producer and not a Creative Director, implying that she did not have full control of the creative direction of Halo Infinite.
For the time being it seems that nothing has changed with the development of Halo Infinite by 343 Studios. And as Halo Infinite is slated to be a launch title for the new Xbox codenamed Project Scarlett coming holiday season of 2020, we will definitely continue to keep tabs on the development of the game. As always, when new information or developments surface, you can catch them right here.
In the meantime, let us know what you think is going on at 343 and if you’re concerned with the development of Halo Infinite. Leave a comment below or visit us on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation.