'Halo 5: Guardians' boss admits fan criticism of the storyline was "merited".
Halo 5: Guardians
The military science fiction first person shooter game received criticism when it was released in 2015 after fans were unhappy with the unusual way the story played out.
Instead of focusing on the main protagonist Master Chief - who was the hero of the series - players were occasionally tasked with playing as Spartan Locke, the enemy intent on hunting Master Chief down.
Now, 'Halo's franchise manager Frank O'Connor has admitted the team "took some digs" for the story telling, and says he understands why fans of Master Chief were left disappointed with the game.
Speaking to the latest issue of GamesTM, Frank said: "We took some digs for storytelling in Halo 5, but they were absolutely merited. We very much realised that people wanted Master Chief's story of 'Halo 5'.
"We definitely marketed in a way that we hoped was going to bring surprise, but for some fans and certainly fans of Master Chief, it was a huge disappointment because they wanted more Chief."
And Frank also said the experience was a learning curve for game developers 343 Industries, who underestimated the attachment people had made to Master Chief in the 15 years that he has served as the franchise's hero.
He added: "Chief we tend to think of as kind of a vessel for your adventure rather than necessarily this major character in the universe. He's really just your entry into the universe. But people have become attached to him over the last fifteen years and they've started to sort of fill in the gaps that the character deliberately has for gameplay reasons with a genuine emotional attachment. We certainly underestimated that with 'Halo 5'."
"It wasn't that surprising to me, but the volume of 'give us more Chief' at the end of 'Halo 5' was significant and so I think if anything he's slightly more important now than he has ever been, certainly to our franchise."