Aaron Linde, Halo Infinite’s lead narrative designer, is leaving 343

Aaron Linde, the lead narrative designer for the recently released Halo Infinite, has revealed his intentions to leave 343 Industries to pursue a new opportunity.

Linde announced that he’s moving on to a new project but said it was a “terribly difficult decision.” This news comes just a few weeks after Infinite’s release, which was reviewed favorably by critics and received well by fans. There are some gripes from critics about the storyline, but many fans are happy with the story component of the game.

Linde was in charge of handling all of the open-world narrative content, according to his LinkedIn page. His work can be found in thousands of voice lines, audio logs, and ambient dialogue. During his time at 343, he said he’s produced over 15,000 lines of enemy and Marine chatter. He and his team were also responsible for all of the boss fight dialogue and all in-game text. That’s quite a large undertaking for a “small team” of people.

Before he landed at 343, Linde had a short stint at Bungie working on Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and was the narrative lead at ArenaNet working on Guild Wars 2. In his announcement on Twitter, he didn’t reveal what project he’ll be working on next. But to leave a game with such a large-scale fan base, it must have been an offer that was too good to pass up.