Former Halo Infinite developer confirms canceled battle royale mode and says it “could have been a game changer”

A former member of renowned Texas-based support studio Certain Affinity has confirmed frequent reports that the team was working on a battle royale mode for Halo Infinite, calling the canceled project a potential “game changer”.

Certain Affinity has worked on several major franchises since its founding in 2006, supporting the development of the Halo series, Call of Duty and Doom 2016, among others. One of the most intriguing projects, however, was the oft-rumored and oft-hinted at: but never officially confirmed – Halo-themed battle royale mode.

Whispers about 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” – which it was later confirmed that more than 100 employees had been developing the mysterious ‘something’ since at least 2020. But despite the enormous amount of time and resources invested in this endeavor, reports surfaced in January that Microsoft was pulling the plug – news that was followed two months later by 25 layoffs at Certain Affinity.

But while Certain Affinity and Microsoft have never publicly confirmed the succession of reports from reliable sources claiming that 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 added as design director – has now done just that.

“I led a large team of designers working on a canceled Battle Royale mode for Halo,” Clopper wrote in an update on his LinkedIn profile (thanks VGC), adding: “I believe this product will be a game changer could have been for the franchise. We loved playing it and working on it, it was a fantastic experience despite the cancellation.”

Since the cancellation of the project at Certain Affinity, Microsoft has announced a third-person mode for Halo Infinite – which will be released next month – and has also shared its future plans for the Halo series. 343 Industries, now rebranded as Halo Studios, is currently working on multiple new Halo games – and the studio recently released some experimental footage showing what the series could look like once it transitions to Unreal Engine 5. Digital Foundry has, if you’re curious, first impressions from that “impressive” footage from last week.