: I think the statement of them going from 0 - 340 employees before the game
: shipped* is really the key to everything Halo 4 and obviously the most
: important in this Joystiq piece. I believe we as the general public
: probably have no idea how CRAZY that is as a game developer to even think
: about! As well, the "absence of high level vision" at the
: beginning probably set them back more than we know, which I can only
: imagine is frustrating particularly for a BRAND NEW company backed by
: mega-corporation-we-need-to-see-profits-or-else Microsoft.

: Their ending result of a great* AAA title and good* Halo game is a
: testament in my opinion to the quality of staff 343I has assembled. Count
: me as eager to see what they can do next after experiencing their growing
: pains and maturing as a team now.

: *=my emphasis

: - MacGyver10

This is an excellent point. I feel like Halo 4 could have been a much stronger game if they were given more time to build their company to have a solid vision for pre-production. Some people feel like Halo 4 was 343's chance to prove their prejudices wrong, but I disagree with that- Halo 5 seems like the real test to me.

I don't know this for sure, but it seems like Halo 4 didn't have the smoothest development (not as bad as Halo 2, but still pretty bumpy). I'm kinda hoping that it becomes more apparent in the future, and 343 continues to improve and work out their kinks.