Glenn Israel, former art director at Halo Studios, has left a complaint on Microsoft's feedback portal, demanding a third-party investigation into the leadership behind Halo Studios. Israel alleges that the leadership has "committed and continues to commit numerous unethical and unlawful acts to the detriment of the franchise, its developers, and the community."
The post itself isn't very long, and doesn't really go into detail about what these acts are, but Israel says that during his last two years at the company he "personally witnessed or was subjected to these acts, duly reported them, and faced retaliation from both studio leadership and Microsoft HR." He'd like to see an investigation come about as "players deserve to know the circumstances behind the decline of what was once the XBOX flagship franchise."
Israel himself left Halo Studios behind toward the latter end of last year, where he gave out an ominous message about a freedom to choose for developers. It's clear whatever the events were that led to his departure, that they have had quite the effect on Israel, leading to his more recent post.
A lot of the comments under Israel's demand are supportive. "This needs to happen," writes one commentor. Another says "This is the best idea since Halo itself." It's clear a lot of people also think Halo has suffered a serious decline in recent years, and it's hard not to see the trend. Whether you love the games still or not, the franchise doesn't have the stranglehold on us that it did back in the late 2000s and early 2010s. An investigation could tell us if anything is going on at Halo Studios, but it may not bring us instantly back to the good old days.