Bonnie Ross, who spent nearly three decades at Microsoft, is leaving the studio responsible for the Halo franchise behind, but not because she’s kicking the bucket with 343 Industries.

According to Windows Central, 343 Industries’ head of development Pierre Hintze will take over from Ross with immediate effect. The company’s top management will also be expanded with more roles. Bryan Koski will become the franchise general manager. At the same time, Elizabeth Van Wyck was promoted to the position of business and operations manager with the departure of the studio’s founding member.

Ross’ message, which can be read on Twitter, follows: “While I had hoped to stay with Halo until we released the Winter Update [for Halo Infinite], I am letting you know I will be leaving 343 and attending to a family medical issue. I am incredibly proud of the work everyone at 343 Industries has done with Halo Infinite, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the Halo television series, and so much more.

It has been an honour to serve alongside the team for the last 15 years and be part of a universe I love. Thank you to everyone in the Halo community for your support. Halo’s future is bright. I cannot wait for all of you to experience what we have in store—and to cheer alongside you, as a fan, at the Halo World Championship in October! Axios, Bonnie Ross,” Ross wrote.

The problem is, meanwhile, the update pace for Halo Infinite has been much slower than expected over the past nearly a year. As it is supposed to be a game that should be a trump card for the Xbox Series (true, it’s available on PC, but not everyone has one, or the hardware isn’t as powerful as it should be), it has a significant role to play in Microsoft’s strategy, not to mention Bethesda’s and soon Activision Blizzard’s games. For example, we recently reported that the studio had abandoned a split-screen local co-op, something it had already done with Halo 5: Guardians.

There’s a bit of turbulence around the studio, which doesn’t sound good.

Source: Gematsu