I know that at least some of 343i's creative leads are leftists, but that doesn't track here.Wow.
Just reading about what little we know of Halo Infinite, it's been brought home to me what a god damn narrative catastrophe Halo 5 was. What were they thinking!?
I don't think 343 meant to go full lefty but there's clearly some lefties in there as their behaviour matches up. They took the franchise, they tore it apart, shat all over everything that came before and tried to make it theirs right down to the art style (they even desexualised Cortana). The result is a total bastardisation of one of the greatest sci-fi shooters of all time.
The rise of woke trash is largely due to corporations deciding to make more of X (Where X is Terminator, Star Wars, some children's cartoon from the eighties, or any other media franchise with a proven track record) and greenlight more of X. They then hand this project off to writers, directors and producers who are talentless hacks. In the case that these people do have talent, that talent is set aside in favor of regurgitating the woke agenda. See, for example, James Cameron. He's one Hell of a storyteller and an incredibly competent producer, and yet any interesting story that Avatar could have told was shredded in favor of repeating hamfisted environmentalist cliches.
These writers, directors, and producers then brag about how woke they are and how woke the production will be, because sending a message is more important to them than telling a good story. In some cases, this is a cynical attempt to cover up for the shortcomings of a film (Fant4stic is going to be progressive! The Emoji Movie is going to fight Trump!) but often it is a genuine attempt to evangelize for the woke movement.
So... MIcrosoft wants more Halo.
343i is made to make more Halo.
343i is... not exactly competent at storytelling, worldbuilding, or visual design. The company is staffed with people who are good at climbing the corporate ladder, but not at writing.
But 343i hasn't gone woke. Sure, there's woke employees, and the usual faffing nonsense during Pride Month, but wokeness hasn't taken over the story. 343i didn't brag about how Fireteam Osiris is diverse and inclusive. Linda and Kelly weren't turned into Strong Womahn who don't need the Master Chief. The story isn't great, and boy howdy was 343i too big for their britches whenever it came to comparing themselves to Bungie, but it's not woke.
And desexualized Cortana? Dude, Halo 3 Cortana may have had jiggle physics, but Halo 4 Cortana had holographic shadows to emphasize where all those curves were.
Indeed. Fortunately, some of us are working on that problem.The infuriating thing is that a post Halo 3 galaxy is a writers playground. Humanity getting back on its feet, dozens of Covenant Warlords fighting for the scraps of their old empire, the Arbiter trying to assert control, and perhaps even ONI being reluctant to hand over its war time powers. And this is what they gave us? Yet another fucking rogue AI story?