The Halo franchise is very important to Microsoft. That being said, with the last title from Master Chief's saga Halo 3 having been launched a year ago and having set new records in terms of sales and popularity, the Redmond based company couldn't leave this series of games to rest. It is already developing the Halo Wars strategy title, which is currently in Ensemble Studios' hands, part of Microsoft. Also, several other projects which are based in the Halo universe are rumored to be in development by distinct studios under the Microsoft umbrella. And for these projects in particular, the corporation is hiring developers and producers left and right. The latest name on their list is the assistant producer for Metal Gear Solid 4, Ryan Payton.

“Microsoft has confirmed the addition of Ryan Payton, formerly of Kojima Productions to Microsoft Game Studios. Payton joins a group of industry heavy hitters to recently arrive at Microsoft Game Studios, including Corrine Yu from Gearbox and Kenneth Scott of id Software, as well as David Wu from Pseudo Interactive and Frank O’Connor, a Bungie veteran. Microsoft Game Studios is thrilled to have such talented people working to develop new and exciting projects within the Halo universe and supporting existing projects from studios like Bungie and Ensemble,” said Phil Spencer in an official statement about hiring the young producer.

Well, all these recent actions show that Microsoft is definitely committed to bring the most talented people on its future Halo projects. That is really great because a lot of fans don't want to see their favorite franchise ruined by developers with no experience or who can't really get their ideas across the board to their teams. Also, rumors say that Payton will be working on Peter Jackson's Halo based title, so that's definitely good to hear.