Bonnie Ross isn’t your typical exec, and that’s a good thing. If you ended up at Halo Trivia Night at your local wings joint (that’s a thing, right?) chances are Ross would kick your ass. Not only does she head up 343 Industries, she’s also a bona fide Halo nerd who’s actually played through the games and read the novels. Halo 5 is about more than projections and revenue; for Ross, it’s a passion project.
Bloomberg Newsweek recently featured Ross on the cover as “The Real Master Chief,” and asks, “Can Bonnie Ross build a video game cool enough to save the Xbox?” I’m not so sure that the Xbox One needs saving. It’s not doing as well as the PS4, but hey, someone has to be ahead in sales, and Microsoft has unveiled some killer bundles for the holiday season that are going to move a lot of consoles and sell a lot of games. What needs redemption is 343 Industries’ reputation after the abysmal Halo: The Master Chief Collection multiplayer fiasco of 2014. William Archbell, a senior software engineer at 343, has been running tests on Halo 5 ’s multiplayer modes for two years now, so here’s hoping that things go a bit more smoothly this go around.
For more on Ross and the development of Halo 5: Guardians you can check out the full feature from Bloomberg Newsweek here.