With Halo 4 set to launch in late 2012, having a key development team member leaving probably isn't ideal. That's what happened in the case of Ryan Payton, who has confirmed that he is leaving developer 343 Industries and relinquishing his duties on the highly-anticipated sequel.
Payton, who was the assistant producer on Metal Gear Solid 4, has said that working on Halo 4 didn't make him "creatively excited".
"I had a great run at Microsoft," Payton said in an interview. "I don't regret one day of it. But after a few years, there came a point where I wasn't creatively excited about the project anymore."
"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," he added.
"It was all a crash course on AAA game development," Payton said describing his days working on Metal Gear Solid 4. "It was an experience that prepared me for a big budget, high risk project like Halo."
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