Former Halo Infinite dev confirms cancelled battle royale mode, says it "could have been a game changer"
Was in development at Certain Affinity.
A former member of renowned Texas-based support studio Certain Affinity has confirmed frequent reports the team was working on a battle royale mode for Halo Infinite, calling the cancelled project a potential "game changer".
Certain Affinity has worked on multiple major franchises since its founding in 2006, supporting development on the likes of the Halo series, Call of Duty, and Doom 2016. One of its most intriguing projects, however, was the frequently rumoured and oft alluded to - but never officially confirmed - Halo-themed battle royale mode.
Whispers of the project began circulating in early 2022, when Certain Affinity announced it was "deepening" its relationship with Halo series stewards 343 Industries and working to 'evolve' Halo Infinite in "new and exciting ways" - later confirming over 100 employees had been developing the mysterious "something" since at least 2020. But despite the massive amount of time and resources invested in the endeavour, reports surfaced this January that Microsoft was pulling the plug - news that was followed by 25 layoffs at Certain Affinity two months later.
But while Certain Affinity and Microsoft have never publicly confirmed the succession of reports from reliable sources claiming the canned project was a battle royale mode for Halo Infinite, former Certain Affinity design director Mike Clopper - who recently joined Call of Duty studio Raven Software as a design director - has now done just that.
"I led a large team of designers working on a cancelled Battle Royale mode for Halo," Clopper wrote in an update to his LinkedIn profile (thanks VGC), adding, "I believe this product could have been a game changer for the franchise. We loved playing it and working on it, was a fantastic experience in spite of its cancelation."
Since the project's cancellation at Certain Affinity, Microsoft has announced a third-person mode for Halo Infinite - which is due to arrive next month - and has also shared its future plans for the Halo series. 343 Industries, now rebranded Halo Studios, is currently working on multiple new Halo games - and the studio recently released some experimental footage showing how the series might look once it transitions to Unreal Engine 5. Digital Foundry, if you're curious, shared its first impressions of that "impressive" footage last week.