343 Industries: "Craig was never intended to be seen in that condition"

Things didn't end up well when 343 Industries revealed the first gameplay for Halo Infinite, something that ultimately ended up with a roughly year long delay. In a letter over at Halo Waypoint, the game's director of art management, Neill Harrison, shares his opinions on what happened.

He also reveals that it was never their intention to show the Brute, that quickly got nicknamed Craig and became a meme, in such a poor state:

"Firstly, I can confirm that the facial animation on NPCs was not fully implemented in that build, which resulted in Craig's incredibly deadpan/lifeless look. All characters are modelled in a neutral pose, prior to blendshapes & animation being applied. So, poor old Craig was never intended to be seen in that condition which is not something that was evident during the gameplay. It was only later, in the close-up freeze frame of his one bad moment, where it came to light and the legend of Craig was born."

The next time we get to meet Craig, we hopefully won't even recognize him, as Harrison explains:

"There's been further work done on the material fidelity and more variety added for Brute faces, we're also working to add some hairdos and beards which was something we hadn't gotten to in July. So, whilst we have come to love our dear old Craig, he's certainly undergoing a significant makeover."

Sounds good to us. We'd rather have a great Halo Infinite later, that a Craig ridden one too soon.