Cancelled Halo Battle Royale “Could Have Been a Game-Changer for the Franchise,” Developer Says

In 2022, Certain Affinity was announced as an official support studio for Halo Infinite, following which the studio confirmed that it was working on “something big and new for the franchise”. Reports claimed that Certain Affinity was working on a large-scale battle royale experience for Halo, though earlier this year, it was reported that that project had been cancelled amidst significant internal shakeups at 343 Industries.

Now, a developer who worked on the project at Certain Affinity seems to have confirmed its cancellation, and offered some brief information on how it was shaping up.

Spotted by GameSpot, Mike Clopper – who was game director at Certain Affinity until his departure in March 2022 – wrote on his LinkedIn profile about his work on the battle royale Halo experience, which he wrote “could have been a game-changer for the franchise” prior to its cancellation. Clopper has since updated his LinkedIn profile, removing any mention of a battle royale mode.

“I led a large team of designers working on a canceled Battle Royale mode for Halo,” his profile read. “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.”

In spite of an undeniably turbulent last few years, fans of the Halo franchise do have plenty to look forward to. 343 Industries recently officially rebranded as Halo Studios, and announced that all future Halo titles would be developed on Unreal Engine going forward, hopefully enabling a more streamlined and efficient development pipeline. Multiple unannounced Halo titles are confirmed to be in the works.