https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpGGxvgWwQE

Seems like a very feasible reason why Halo 5's story was so sloppy. I hope MS learns after this blunder.

 Yeah i hope they don't hire the same writer again and go for a more complicated story like Halo 4. Also its interesting that in Mass Effect 3 there was a bug that changed the whole story. 

That was a very informative video and it is certainly the most compelling argument over how Halo 5 ended up the way it did.

If this is true (which I assume it mostly is), then I really hope that in following Halo's that Microsoft stays out of it and lets 343 make their own creative choices. Halo 5 was, for me the most disappointing Halo by a large margin and I feel kind of bad for saying this, but I hope it under performs to the point that all parties involved know big changes are needed for the franchise to be successful.

I'm sure MS had as big an influence in the story as publishers normally have. Especially considering it's a known fact that they plan to support a new trilogy. So this allows you to do a lot of different things with the story. Including cliffhanger endings. It's hilarious that the comic book artist guy would say the ending is a sign of MS forcing their input into the ending... I mean, it's game one of a new trilogy. These things end that way, no matter who the publisher is. You can't wrap up the story in game one of a trilogy.

It's just one guys opinion. One guy who hasn't played the game, hates the writer of the game, and feels Microsoft may have been inspired by some of his pictures in their marketing.

He did mention that no dev would end the game the way they did. The game ended with a huge cliff hanger but if you take a look at how other halo games ended(except maybe 3) it wasn't that confusing.

I'm pretty sure Halo 5 is game two of the new trilogy. 

I agree that publisher influence is a pretty common thing in the gaming world. But I would argue that publisher influence, more often than not, tends to limit the game and keeps it from being as good as it could have been (Destiny is a prime example of that).  And if Microsoft really did push Halo 5 to the ends that it currently is, then such influence was, at least by my standards, undesirable.

I dont think this is correct. 

Halo 4 is almost like a stand alone piece. A continuation from Halo 3, but a whole new story. Halo 5 may be a continuation, but the only story threads that remain intact, are the Forerunners and Cortana. 

MS wanted to see how the series would fare under a new face (Locke). Well, it failed. 

No more. None of this blue team BS either. Back to Chief please. 

If you want to make Chief a traitor/anti-hero then fine, but I expect to play as the Chief for more than 3 missions. 

I rather not play as chief after Halo 6. We need a new hero and a new story arc. Called Halo : subtitle. Kind of like Halo reach.

I agree. Halo 4 almost feels like it's own game. It's  not part of bungies trilogy or what 343 has started with Halo 5. 

Halo 6 should have Master chief, Locke, Palmer, and Arbiter as a squad the entire game. Now that would be hype.