Industry and Microsoft veteran Bonnie Ross announced her retirement today with the intent to focus on the family as 343 Industries moves to restructure its leadership roles.
Bonnie Ross has been in Microsoft’s games business for three decades, working on franchises like Gears of War and Alan Wake and even third-party publishing deals on titles like Jade Empire and Mass Effect. Most famously, it took over the reins at 343 Industries after promoting its vision for Halo, versus Microsoft’s atmosphere in which it felt as if the franchise was in decline. Under 343 Industries, Ross and her team have teamed up to ship several popular Halo products, including Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach, Halo Anniversary, Halo Spartan Assault/Strike, and Halo Wars 2.
“After more than 28 years in gaming at Microsoft, including 15 years leading 343 Industries and Halo through their most ambitious steps forward, Bonnie Ross will leave Microsoft and spend more time with her family. We are grateful for her leadership of 343 and during which the team launched Halo. 4, Halo 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo TV series, and Halo Infinite. We wish her all the best. Head of production Pierre Hintz will take effect as studio head immediately. Team 343 is working hard to ship the Winter Update, the largest update for Halo Infinite since launch.”
What you need to know
- Bonnie Ross has led 343 Industries and the Halo franchise at Microsoft for 15 years, having worked for the company for the past 27 years in and around Xbox.
- Halo is a science fiction franchise set in a distant future where humanity is fighting for survival against various alien factions.
- Halo Infinite launched to critical acclaim, but Microsoft is restructuring the 343i’s leadership to better position the game for the future of its live service.
Bonnie Ross’ 343i also built Halo: Master Chief Collection, which ambitiously transferred several Halo games into one ownership. The mission was gigantic and launched in less than polished condition, but subsequent years of investment made it a truly stellar title. On the other end of the spectrum, infinite aura It launched with the series’ highest Metacritic score to date, but its live service has made fans clamor for faster content delivery.
To that end, Microsoft also announced that the leadership team is undergoing a restructuring, splitting the Bonnie Ross role into three parts to serve the franchise’s growing footprint, which now includes a TV show and other cross-media projects.
Studio veteran and production lead Pierre Hintz will become president of Studio 343i immediately, leading the studio’s ongoing development of Halo Infinite and The Master Chief, as well as future games. The senior leadership team will expand to new positions, including Brian Kosky who will become General Manager Franchise, and Elizabeth Van Wyck, who will oversee business and operations.
Bonnie Ross indicated in her Twitter feed that she had hoped to stay with 343 Industries to complete the launch of the update, but a family medical issue led her to advance her plans.
In November, Halo Infinite will have its biggest content bundle to date dubbed Winter Updatewhich will include Forge’s powerful map creation tools and co-op campaign play.
Halo Infinite campaign is available to play on Xbox Game PassHalo Infinite Multiplayer is completely free to play on Xbox consoles and PC.
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