Sources speaking to industry insider Brad Sams have said that former 343 head Bonnie Ross's departure had more to do with Halo Infinite's financial failure than any medical issues.
Last week, 343 Industries founder and 27-year Microsoft veteran Bonnie Ross announced her departure citing a "family medical issue." Soon after, engineering director David Berger also left the company after 25 years at Microsoft and after spearheading Halo's technical development for 14 years.
These two high-profile departures might have been a coincidence, but insider Brad Sams said in his latest podcast that sources tell him that this is actually indicative of a major shakeup at 343.
"Halo Infinite is not in good shape. It's not in a good position, it has not lived up to the goals that Microsoft Initially outset for 343 when launching this," said Sams. "It is also not living up to the financial side either from what I have heard."
What Sams described as "the final straw" came with the announcement of Season 3 of Halo Infinite, which arrives next March. Players can expect new maps, new weapons, a new battle pass, and a continuation of the Forge mode beta.
"I've heard from multiple people that this is a Microsoft management reshuffle after effectively what they announced for season three," explained Sams. "This most recent release of information I believe was the final straw that broke the camel's back ... This is Microsoft making a big change."
Microsoft initially had plans to make Halo Infinite into a "Destiny-like" live-service game, but missed "failed on every metric of that." Sams also responded to fans suggesting that Microsoft simply hand over Halo to Activision following the two companies’ merger, saying that such a move wouldn’t be as simple as it sounds due to Halo running on a completely custom engine. Sams mentioned Microsoft has spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" building Halo Infinite and suggested that Microsoft hasn’t nearly recouped its investment thus far.