While Halo Infinite continues its path of expansion and enrichment, it seems that several possible evolutions, for the game and for the series in general, have been discardedas is normal in the development process, although the amount of projects presented from 343 Industries and unapproved looks pretty impressive based on what a former team member reported.
The process of pitching at idee on a series or on new features to be added to a live service game or with long post-launch support is a standard procedure, and the fact that many of these are not approved is also decidedly natural, therefore the revelation of Kevin Schmitt, ex-senior designer of 343 Industries and Rockstar now in Epic Games, it is not at all surprising, but it is interesting to learn about certain background stories.
In essence, Schmitt reveals that the team proposed approx 20-30 idea to be applied within the Halo universe, including variations on the Halo ODST theme between multiplayer and single player. The question comes in the wake of the discussion regarding Helldivers 2, and how such a formula could have been adapted to Halo.
Something similar to Helldivers 2
Halo 3: ODST had similar elements to Helldivers 2
According to Schmitt, among the proposed ideas there were also structures similar to the one used by Arrowhead Studio for Helldivers 2mainly taking up the setting and features of Halo 3: ODST, but these were not continued by 343 Industries.
In just over a dozen years of the developer's experience within the studio, he has seen around 20-30 projects proposed, but many of these were not accepted, despite the fact that they could represent very interesting variations. In general, it seems that Microsoft and 343 Industries have preferred to keep the series in line with its arena FPS roots with regards to multiplayer, also given the difficulty of moving a historic franchise from its path.
Schmitt concludes the speech by regretting that Microsoft did not want to give space to such experiments on Halo, despite being a company that has shown that it wants to give ample space to particular ideas that are different from the norm as demonstrated by Pentiment, Grounded and other titles.