343 Industries Veteran Disputes 'Laziness' Claim About Halo Studio
Glenn Israel says 343 Industries did not begin staffing up as a development studio until late 2009, pushing back on Laura Fryer's account.
Former 343 Industries art director Glenn Israel has publicly disputed Laura Fryer's claim that the Halo studio suffered from a "laziness" problem, according to gamesradar.com.
Israel said 343 Industries did not begin staffing up as a development studio until late 2009. He added that he joined the studio in 2010 directly from Bungie, and that the Halo developers worked out of an off-campus satellite called Willows.
The exchange concerns the early history of the team behind Halo, which was later rebranded as Halo Studios.
Fryer's account
Fryer, a developer who joined Microsoft Game Studios in 1995, previously said she witnessed the birth of Halo Studios while working on Gears of War 2. She described the Halo team as a "ghost town" and said she was not surprised by the studio's recent layoffs. Gears of War 2 shipped in late 2008 in the west and mid 2009 elsewhere.