6 Sep, 2011
Consider it over a feeling of being creatively stunted. While most would think the word “quit” implies poor working conditions, that definitely wasn’t the case with Ryan Payton. In an interview with Kotaku, the now-former-Halo 4 Creative Director said that despite having “a great run at Microsoft,” he simply wasn’t excited for the project anymore. “I don’t regret one day of it,” said Payton of his time at Microsoft, “But after a few years, there came a point where I wasn’t creatively excited about the project anymore.”
There’s something wrong if you can’t be creatively excited about Halo anymore, but then again Payton wanted to take the Halo series in a whole new direction. “The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different and I don’t think I had built enough credibility to see such a crazy endeavor through,” said Payton.
Don’t despair, fans. Payton says that Halo 4 won’t suck. In fact, it’s going to be great because of all the talent that will still be there. Before heading over to 343i, Payton was a part of the Metal Gear Solid 4 team, and his responsibility was to update control mechanics. Thanks to his networking, Payton was able to have Sotaro Tojima, the audio director of MGS4, come on board with Halo 4. With Tojima’s sensibilities, Payton is confident that Halo 4 “is going to sound epic.”
He’s leaving Halo 4 in some very capable hands. In the meantime, Payton just wants to pursue his own dream — it just doesn’t have Halo in it. “…I want to make a game that one billion people play at once, and it’s something that hits them harder than a great book or film,” he said.
Read the full interview with Ryan Payton and Kotaku here.
Via CVG.
Recent Comments