I worked at MicroProse studios from 1988-1993. I worked at id Software from 1993-1997. I worked at Ensemble Studios from 1997-2009. All three studios had amazing and talented teams.

Niles (see below) is 100% correct. You can't conjure lightning in the same bottle again. Those teams will never return. But the good news is you can create new teams with new abilities and dreams.

Niles Sankey (@NilesSankey)
As someone who worked at old school Bungie in its heyday, I just want to be honest about the "hire the old Halo devs back" posts.

Hard to swallow pills: It would be very difficult (impossible?) to resurrect the old magic and it's very unlikely this will ever happen. btw, this is not limited to Halo; this is generally true of most creative endeavors in multiple collaborative mediums.

Here's why:

1. The devs are not the same people they once were. People change, tastes change, and personal priorities change. They're likely not as hungry and driven as they once were. It doesn't mean they're less talented per se, but they're just not the same people.

2. The magic of old school Bungie was a very specific formula of talent stacks and personality types. You generally need x% of this old formula for success. Remove one piece and you might not see a big difference. Remove multiple pieces and the formula collapses. You could feel the slow degradation of Bungie over the Destiny years. It was a death by 1000 cuts (5-10 specific cuts that doomed the studio). You can't just hire a few old school devs and expect it's going to be like the good old days.

3. Many of the old schoolers didn't like working with each other, or they grew to resent each other. This is a very common trend in creative productions. Great movies are made by people that ended up hating each other, great albums are made by artists that will never speak to each other again. Game dev teams are like a high-drama family that isn't bonded by blood. Some of the most insanely talented people I know don't like each other, but both were required for success. It's just a fact of life and the human condition.

4. I'm not convinced that (most) gamers actually want another innovative Halo game. I think they mainly want to recapture the feelings they had back in the day. They want nostalgia. But Halo games were very forward-thinking at the time. It's hard to resolve nostalgia with innovation. Many of the old devs are very innovative thinkers. They would make changes that would upset the fan base. This presents a monkey's paw situation.

All that said, I do think MS should 100% be consulting with the old school Halo devs. It's been very foolish not to do this. It would be beneficial, but I would only expect marginal returns. It's not going to fix the fundamental problems.

Please don't read this post as a "black pill". I'm simply giving my honest views based on my experiences and it's always better to have realistic expectations.

I'm actually very optimistic. The future is very bright.

Elite game development is alive and well. It resides in the hearts of young developers who are passionate and willing to sacrifice their livelihoods to change the world. We just need more resources pushed in their direction.

As always, I encourage everyone to support honest indie game devs.