"I would still rather have the problem of being overly ambitious rather than just kind of walking up and making it, and getting it out there because the name will sell it.

That would be the day that I would leave." - Dave Dunn

See, this is what 343i doesn't understand! They just spit out titles, and expect us to buy them, without ever thinking about how we'll respond to the content. A lot of us now probably think it wasn't worth it to buy Halo 4. This is very different from the original Halo, Marathon, or Minecraft, all of which think more about making a good game than they do about profit. 343i just wants the green stuff pouring in their door, without worrying about whether we'll think it was worth it. That's the difference between average game-making (Blizzard, 343i, etc.), and good game-making (Bungie, Mojang, etc.).

This is no where near the level your hyperbole claims. If MS were just interested in the money, there would be no 343, there would be no effort toward the community, there would be no weekly bulletin. There would be a silent internal team that makes the yearly edition you play, hell there probably wouldn't be a campaign either. Some real effort and craftsmanship goes into every game you see, even if it seems brought down by complete shite. So, I don't think 343 misses the point, I also don't think Microsoft lets them get away with a lot. There's a lot worse being done in the Activision and EA sub-devs everyday. There's a lot worse being done on Steam everyday. If 343 wanted to spit out titles and expect us to buy whatever, there would be no fan facing side of them. It could've been a lot worse.