One of Halo’s most important developers is coming back and joining 343 Industries to work on Halo Infinite.
It’s rare for a game developer to try to stay with a single franchise for an extended period of time, and the Halo series is a perfect example of why. The Halo series has had its ups and downs, even moving from Bungie to 343 Industries over a decade ago. The series’ designer Paul Bertone had a more unique path than most. He left Bungie’s tenure under Microsoft and then left before Destiny was released. However Bertone will return to his former home with Halo and join 343 Industries.
A message from Halo Infinite head of creative Joseph Staten has confirmed that Paul Bertone is now part of 343 Industries. Bertone will take on a key role within the company as the Studio Technical Design Director, ensuring that his vision for Halo’s future will be as influential as his work has been. in the past of the series.
For the uninitiated, Paul Bertone was a key player in Bungie during the development of the first Halo trilogy and beyond. He was a designer for Halo: Combat Evolved, was promoted to Chief Mission Designer for Halo 2, then Chief Campaign Designer for Halo 3 and then Chief Designer for Halo 3: ODST . He also contributed his credit on Halo: Reach to the design work. It could be said that he was part of what made Halo the success it is today.
However, after Halo, Bertone’s life suddenly took a different direction. He left Bungie in 2012, two years before Destiny was released. Between 2012 and 2022, he went from working at Industrial Toys to his own business, from Undead Labs to Maybe Monsters, back to self-employment and then Highwire Games where he was a Designer The main plot for the controversial Six Days in Fallujah. Now ten years after leaving Bungie, he has joined 343 Industries.
Bertone’s experience is huge, but this will certainly be his biggest role in the game’s development. It is not yet clear whether the controversy surrounding Six Days in Fallujah will continue with this developer. There are also controversies surrounding 343 Industries itself, especially regarding the way the company handles Halo Infinite. Bertone looks like it will have a pretty tough job ahead of it.
One interesting aspect of Bertone’s hiring is that it hints at what 343 Industries is doing next. Support for Halo Infinite is obvious, but Bertone’s experience is deeply embedded in the series’ main story campaigns. Coincidentally, there are now reports that 343 Industries is working on a new story campaign for Halo Infinite that will be released as DLC or an expansion in the coming years. Halo gamers will just have to watch and wait for what 343 Industries has to offer next.
See also: Lots of games to be announced at Ubisoft Forward in September