well, it does strongly imply that Halo 4 will almost certainly be a refinement of proven mechanics vs an evolution of the series, otherwise he'd more likely have stuck around given own words.

Depending on your view this is either bad or good.  If you want more of the same with better graphics and further refinement of gameplay and features and fear too much radical change then this is good news really.  If you wanted to see Halo 4 shaken up more and risks taken then it's bad news.

Mind you, personally I wouldn't even have taken the job if I was him if he wanted that much creative freedom, because clearly it was hugely unlikely you'd get it.  Halo remains too vital to MS/Xbox platform for risks now.  Like CoD series since CoD4 it'll be about refining and following what's popular with the core fanbase vs trying anything too new.

missingno5