@trump@Hoss With 343 I'd argue the issue more is if you hired people at a Mexican restaurant, who hate Mexican food. They said this in the interview too, they hate Mexican food.
You then ask them how they would do it, and it's no longer Mexican food. The customers are pissed off and leave, if it's not Taco Bell and they're making food abortions anyway.
This is why Halo 4 and subsequent Halo titles feel like trend chasers. They did not give a single fuck about what people wanted outside of the "no bloom" patch for Reach which tbf was a complaint for years on bungie.net (where they also ignored complaints).
Shit like video related was seen as the straw that broke the camel's back with Halo fans. It wasn't solely ESG, but rather being run by people who were openly making decisions the playerbase hated and laughing in their face, learning nothing from the Reach Bloom saga.