Ex-Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra has defended Microsoft's decision to place Halo in the hands of Activision, supposedly because the company is primed to make sure there are no politics: "just flat out Halo at its best."
To bang the same drum we've been banging for years, games have always been political. Halo especially. The UNSC is a militarized colonial power; the Human-Covenant War is rooted in religion, with humanity fighting a theocratic empire; Spartans abduct children and turn them into weapons of the state, ONI desperately claws to control the post-war narrative, and Earth's expansion into the endless expanse of space is a constant point of contention throughout the series. I could go on and on, but you get the point: Halo's politics aren't some modern addition to the series. They're baked into its DNA.
Nonetheless, here's what Ybarra said:
"If you are a Halo fan, this is the best news in a decade plus," Ybarra insists. "Rob Kostich, Dave Stohl, Pat Kelly and team at Activision are rock star, old school game developers. Non-political, no bulls**t - just flat out Halo at its best. They are not afraid to take risks and deliver a Halo experience that blows people away and sets the stage for the next 10+ years. This is the best decision to reset Halo and get a new, hungry team in place to make Halo the incredible asset it is. I can't wait to see them lead their teams and bring Halo back in full force."
Putting aside the overt political storytelling of Halo, the idea that Activision is an apolitical monolith is also questionable.
There was a documented US Army marketing campaign centered around Call of Duty in 2021, with the military planning to spend $750,000 on Call of Duty League sponsorship and other gaming initiatives to reach Gen-Z audiences. The Army ultimately abandoned its marketing deals with Activision, but the relationship didn't suddenly disappear. Activision still hosts military-focused esports events, including a 2023 competition with the US Army, Navy, and Coast Guard academies.
That's not to mention the political messaging in the games themselves, with US intervention, propaganda, imperialism, overreaching ntelligence agencies, the morality of state violence, Russian nationalism, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and much, much more, all reinforcing ideas on US military power in a post-9/11 geopolitical landscape throughout the series.
It's bizarre to suggest Activision is an apolitical company when its defining game, the moneymaker it funnels so many other studios into, is Call of Duty — a series featuring an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, which sparked real world accusations from Cuba itself of Treyarch attempting to legitimize actual US assassination plots.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/mike-ybarra-defends-halo-activision/
