I'd actually say the problem is that they can't decide on a direction, and a good chunk of the reason there is decision by corporate committee and the fact that most of Microsoft is contractors. Not dinging contractors, but the longest you can have influence is 18 months, then it's onto the next.

Then also Microsoft teams are always under intense scrutiny for how profitable they are, which in gaming we all know doesn't really work out. How can you determine if a team is profitable or not when your product doesn't release for 2 years. It's also why their release dates are so strict, if you miss it you're not profitable, and to Microsoft it doesn't matter if it's 95% done, you're not profitable.

Bungie was a tiny studio full of gaming veterans who were passionate about the game. Microsoft is simply too big to replicate that.