Halo 5 Boss Frank O’Connor isn’t happy with so-called industry “insiders” who’ve been causing headaches for the higher-ups at companies like 343 Industries and Microsoft trying to keep games like the recently announced Halo 5: Guardians a secret.
In a brief aside on a NeoGAF thread hosting discussions on the topic of embargoed information, O’Connor chimed in, saying that individuals like the infamous “CBOAT” who leak embargoed information are a detriment to developers and are often responsible for the spread of misinformation.
“Breaking embargos is not prophesy. Nor does it require any particular skill or insight,” O’Connor wrote. “Ultimately [CBOAT] is taking or being given information and leaking it, illegally and often erroneously. And he isn’t doing it for some noble or worthy reason. He’s doing it for attention.
“People, including nice people with kids and families and stuff, work super hard on this stuff and wake up in the morning to find some of their effort blown up. It’s not fun, and for what? So you can have a mildly interesting surprise 8 hours early and lacking context? Or get hyped or disappointed disproportionately? Or get someone fired or someone innocent yelled at?
“Ok. But it isn’t prophecy, nor ultimately even important. It’s annoying.”
Most recently, Engadget was tipped off with information about an alleged “Halo: The Master Chief Collection,” a rumored collection of remastered Halo titles; Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4, coming to Xbox One some time this year. Similar details were outed by the mysterious “ntkrnl” in an older NeoGAF post containing “predictions,” some of which have indeed proven true, including Halo 5 in 2015, a $399 Xbox One model, a Titanfall Xbox One bundle, and more.
What’s your take on leaked information, especially regarding big game announcements? Is it a hindrance to hard-working developers trying to build hype for their project, or, as a reader of video game news, do you prefer getting “insider” info as early as possible, even if unconfirmed?
Tell us in the comments.
Via TotalXbox