Halo Infinite Creative Director leaves 343 Industries after leadership shakeup

The creative director for 2020’s Halo Infinite has left 343 Industries after a leadership shakeup at the company. 

Veteran Tim Longo, who was also the creative director for Halo 5: Guardians, had been moved to another role as Infinite moved through development.

Microsoft confirmed Longo had left the company in a statement to Kotaku. 

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“Roles and responsibilities of various team members regularly evolve to meet the needs of a game, throughout development. We have recently had two changes to the Halo Infinite development team. Our Executive Producer, Mary Olson will now take charge of the Campaign team on Halo Infinite as the Lead Producer, utilizing her many years of experience at 343 to help craft a great campaign for fans,” Microsoft said.

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The company went on to thank Longo for his work on Halo, “Additionally, Tim Longo has recently departed our team and we are truly thankful for his many contributions to our games, our studio and the Halo universe. We wish Tim nothing but the best in his future endeavors.”

The company went on to write that while Longo has left, the release date remains set for holiday 2020 and launch title for the next-gen Xbox known as “Scarlett”.

• Read More: Scarlett promises huge improvements to load times, frame rate and more

343 Industries has previously stated that Halo Infinite would be a “spiritual reboot” to the franchise. 

A “spiritual reboot” 

“We don’t want to simply build a sequel, we want to build on the story and invention that has gone before and take the gameplay and narrative in bold new directions, while honoring the legacy that fans have fallen in love with for almost twenty years,” they wrote in a blog post. 

“The universe will continue the continuity of Halo 5 and in that sense contain the adventures that led up to this moment, but in the pursuit of our ‘spiritual reboot’ and the launch of a new console, we also want to make sure that this is a perfect starting point for new players too.”  

“This story will mark the beginning of a new chapter and challenge for the Chief, but it will also respect and continue threads that led to this point. If you’ve never played a Halo game before, this will be a great place to jump into the story.”

More information on Halo Infinite and Project Scarlett is expected in the coming months.