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

Mass speculation surrounds the recent announcement of Halo 5: Guardians. Where does the story lead? Where does developer 343 Industries go from here?

According to 343i general manager Bonnie Ross, gamers will have the chance to discover exactly that over the course of multiple upcoming Halo titles.

Ross reiterated to The Guardian that Halo 5: Guardians is part of a story that the studio plans to tell over multiple games. “Just as with past titles, we’re being really open about the fact that we want to tell this story over more than one game – this is about Master Chief’s journey: it’s about his past and his future,” she said.

Obviously, Ross wasn’t quite able to dive into any details so soon after the game’s surprising announcement last Friday morning. But she explained how the studio is taking everything they’ve learned from Halo 4 and is applying that knowledge to their upcoming Halo project while taking full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware.

“We learned a ton from Halo 4, and having the abilities we have with Xbox One… it has opened up doors on things we could never have done before,” she said. “We’re very excited but we can’t talk about any of it.”

“Any time you have a platform launch, it’s an opportunity to take a step back and think more broadly. For us, it’s almost a blank canvas. What are the stories we want to tell, how do we want to tell them, how do we use Halo to push the new platform?

“It’s also a time to listen to our fans and take their feedback on what’s important to them going forward. It’s about how do we start and where do we go on Xbox One?”

Keep your sights on MP1st for more on Halo 5: Guardians.