Halo battle royale cancelled after years of development hell

According to insider information, we were so close to playing a Halo battle royale which has since been cancelled.

Let’s be real, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say the Halo franchise is in shambles at the moment. What was once Xbox’s leading series and console seller has been reduced to a shell of its former self and it doesn’t seem like things are going to improve anytime soon.

Take a look at the trailer for the second season of the Halo TV show

The only saving grace is Halo Infinite is in a much better state than it was when it launched, with fans saying it’s never been better and with more content on the way this year.

Back to the topic at hand though, an unannounced Halo game reportedly being developed by Certain Affinity has been, for better or worse, cancelled. The mystery project was reported via the XboxEra podcast and was supposedly a battle-royale game set in the same universe.

It’s said the Certain Affinity had been worked on for at least two years, and while Microsoft hasn’t confirmed or denied the project’s existence, its potential cancellation would simply be another bit of bad news for Halo fans.

Regardless of your opinion on battle royales, you have to admit one set in the Halo universe would have worked quite well. 100 players landing on a Halo ring in ODST drop-pods would be a great start to a game and the diverse sandbox of weapons and gear would lend themselves quite well to the gameplay.

Whether the project has been scrapped outright or is being transformed into something else is another question, though Certain Affinity has confirmed in the past that it plans to work closer with 343 Industries. This means it’s entirely possible a battle-royale mode could work its way into Halo Infinite’s multiplayer rather than as a standalone release.

Hopefully Halo will receive the love and attention it deserves in 2024, and expand beyond a few content updates for Halo Infinite to something more substantial, it deserves to be one of Xbox’s leading franchises given everything it has done for the company.