To say that Halo Infinite‘s development has been turbulent seems like it would be an understatement at this point.
Chris Lee, the production lead on 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite, is no longer involved in the project, according to Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier. Lee is the second Halo Infinite director to leave the project in the last two years.
“I have stepped back from Infinite and I am looking at future opportunities,” said Lee in a statement to Bloomberg. “I believe in the team and am confident they will deliver a great game and now is a good time for me to step away.”
Halo Infinite was originally slated to release alongside Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox Series X and Series S on November 10th before its release was pushed back following a poorly received gameplay reveal back in August. Microsoft then brought on Joe Staten, a veteran of the Halo series, to lead the game’s single-player campaign, and Pierre Hintze, to take control of its multiplayer development.
Microsoft says that Chris Lee is still a Microsoft employee but that he will no longer be working on Halo Infinite. In 2019, 343 Industries also lost its creative director, Tim Longo, and executive producer, Mary Olson.
Halo Infinite being pushed out of the Xbox Series X and Series S’ launch window is a significant blow to Microsoft’s next-gen game launch lineup, which, as it stands, remains pretty sparse. While the fan reaction to Halo Infinite was mostly focused on the game’s graphics, I liked the throwback design to Halo: Combat Evolved‘s clean lines and simplistic visuals. However, following several shakeups at 343 Industries, it’s clear the game likely suffers from more than what some have viewed as lacklustre graphics.
While Halo Infinite’s release date is set for 2021, the title was first announced back in 2018 at E3.
