- Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto has called out posts made by the White House and ICE in a new interview.
- He said that using Halo for such an ideology makes him sick and is extremely abhorrent.
- Another dev who worked on the game stood against the message, saying The Flood is not an allegory for immigrants.
Halo’s comeback into the limelight has been marred by controversy so far. From accusations of AI usage in their new games to devs of the original title calling Campaign Evolved a soulless cash grab, it’s been a difficult period for the legendary IP.
The Halo PR situation only got worse on Sunday when the White House released an AI-generated image of Donald Trump as Master Chief, stating that the President had ended another war with the franchise heading to PlayStation. And, unsurprisingly, the game’s creator hasn’t taken well to such posts.
Why This Matters: Using any video game for fascist political ideology is against the very thing the medium and its creators stand for.
It really makes me sick seeing Halo co-opted like this.”
While talking to the Game File, Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto said that he found Trump and ICE using the brand extremely abhorrent, to the point that it makes him sick. Lehto was the main man behind Master Chief’s design, whose silhouette Trump’s face has been plastered on.
The co-creator criticised the post ICE made on X this Monday, which called immigrants the flood and asked people to join the organization, while using imagery from Halo games. Lehto said that seeing his creation being opted for such opinions doesn’t sit right with him.
Halo veteran designer Jaime Griesemer also stood against these posts, saying that the government using the brand to destroy people is “way too far.” The dev said that The Flood is not an allegory for any specific group of people, and he personally finds such an image of Halo disgusting.
The franchise is already going through the motions on the technical side, with Halo Campaign Evolved struggling in UE5 and players not being happy with the IP going to PS5. Hence, being the mascot for an ideology is probably not something Microsoft wants.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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