The rumors are true: ex-Kojima Productions employee Ryan Payton has jumped ship to Microsoft Game Studios. Payton joins Corrinne Yu from Gearbox and former id Software art lead Kenneth Scott, as well as developer David Wu from Pseudo Interactive and Frank O’Connor, a well-known Bungie veteran who previously led Halo community efforts.

According to Microsoft, all of the hires are hard at work to “develop new and exciting projects within the Halo universe.” Note the plural in “projects,” that’s interesting.

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