Ryan Payton, the creative director of 343 Industries’ Halo 4 has stepped down. “I think time is the most valuable thing we have,” Payton said in an interview with Kotaku, “and I’ve decided that I’m not going to waste one more day working on something that doesn’t speak to my values.” The developer came to Microsoft back in 2008 after leaving Konami and moving stateside from Japan for personal reasons.
Kotaku reports that Payton has been suffering from heavy bouts of depression. Reading his own words on the matter, it certainly sounds like he was at least he was feeling pretty bummed as well as frustrated by not being allowed to do his own thing with Halo 4. “For somebody who loves this industry as much as I do and know how lucky I’ve been, I never thought I’d get to a point where I was so drained. That was when I knew I had to do something else.” Payton expressed his desire to create a game that draws in a billion gamers simultaneously, but realizes that many view that as a pipe dream. “The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different and I don’t think I had built enough credibility to see such a crazy endeavour through.”
Considering that nothing beyond a cinematic trailer has been shown of the game so far, it will be impossible to tell how the game’s development ends up being affected by his premature departure. As for Payton’s future, he plans to open his own indie studio, called Camouflaj.
[Source: Kotaku]
[Images via Halo’s Finest and Kotaku.]
