“I have stepped back from Infinite and I am looking at future opportunities,” Lee told Bloomberg.
Lee has overseen the Halo series since 2008. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has brought in Halo series veteran Joe Staten to handle development of the game’s single-player campaign and senior executive Pierre Hintze to handle multiplayer. Microsoft, 343 Industries’ parent company, said in a statement that “Chris Lee remains a Microsoft employee.”
Lee’s departure from Halo Infinite is just the latest in a series of events that have rocked the game’s development. The title was originally slated to release alongside the upcoming Xbox Series X and S as consoles’ flagship game, but was delayed into 2021 after poor reception to a demo version. Halo Infinite also lost both its creative director, Tim Longo, and executive producer, Mary Olson, last August.
343 Industries has yet to nail down an exact launch date for the title, and judging by the latest shakeup it may be a bit before a new release day is announced.
