Quite recently, director Chris Lee has left Halo Infinite, news that is coming not too far on the heels of the game’s delay from the release date that was supposed to coincide with the launch of the Xbox Series X/S. That delay ended up pushing Halo Infinite back to some as of yet to be revealed date in 2021.
Lee confirmed the rumors, claiming that he has “stepped back” from his role on Halo Infinite. Even though there has yet to be a new release date for the hotly anticipated title, Lee said he is confident the team will deliver an amazing title come next year. Well, at least they seem confident the game won’t be delayed past 2021. That said, it’s worth noting that Chris Lee is the second director to leave the project over the course of two years.
“I have stepped back from Infinite and I am looking at future opportunities,” Lee said. “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.”
Microsoft commented on Chris Lee exiting his role as director on Halo Infinite, informing the public that he does still remain a Microsoft employee: he is simply no longer a part of this project in particular. The exact statement was as follows.
“Chris Lee remains a Microsoft employee and while he has stepped back from Halo Infinite right now, we appreciate all he has done for the project to date.
According to Lee’s LinkedIn page, he has been with 343 Industries since 2008, a point in time in which he served as lead director for the Halo franchise. In 2016, Lee was promoted to Partner Studio Head, in which he led the so-called spiritual reboot of Halo, which is likely in reference to Halo 5.
Originally, Halo Infinite was supposed to arrive at the same time as the Xbox Series S and Series X as a launch title. Unfortunately, the game was delayed back in August for multiple reasons, including but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, the game has seen quite a bit of trouble throughout the course of its development. Creative director Tim Longo left the game developer back in August 2019, and executive producer Mary Olson left as well when October rolled around. Earlier in 2020, 343 confirmed that they had three different studios assisting with the development of the game, and they even brought back veteran writer Joseph Staten. Needless to say, it seems like Halo Infinite’s development has not been smooth sailing, for the most part.
Unfortunately, a new date for Halo Infinite has yet to be released. All anyone knows is that it is supposed to be released sometime in 2021, but we don’t know if that will be earlier in the year or later. There were some rumors as to the release date, but those were dispelled by the team at 343 itself when they reiterated that no release date has been set yet.
