If anything serves as a red flag when it comes to an unreleased video game, it's the creative leads jumping ship at the last minute, and, unfortunately, that's what has happened at 343 Industries this week. Tim Longo, the Creative Director behind Halo Infinite, has stepped away from the company just one year before the game's scheduled Fall 2020 release.

Longo had been on the team throughout the game's production and had previously worked on Halo 5: Guardians, also as the Creative Director. Although the reason behind his departure remains to a mystery, it certainly signals that there have been creative differences at 343 Industries, which is never a good sign, especially when producing a title as important as one in the Halo franchise.

In a conversation with Kotaku, Microsoft confirmed the news and provided some context to the change of management."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," stated Microsoft. The company emphasized that there is still a great team working on the project, and the Studio Head of Halo: Infinite, Chris Lee, still remains in creative control.

via TechRaptor.com

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One can only speculate as to what conflict might have caused this separation. It's uncertain if Tim Longo wasn't happy with the direction that the game was heading in and decided to leave or if the studio wasn't happy with the direction that Longo was taking the game in and wanted to part ways with the director. Either way, having this news break so closely to the game's release is not the best look for 343 Industries.

The optimal scenario here is that the move was a necessary one, and will give players the best version of Halo: Infinite possible. The creative differences may have been weighing the game's production down, and this change could be what pushes it in the right direction. As one of Xbox's most iconic franchise's, a new Halo game comes with a lot of expectations from fans, and everyone is certainly hoping that 343 Industries can deliver on its promise of a great next entry in the series.

Halo: Infinite will function as a spiritual reimagining of the Halo series, bringing back fan-favorite character Master Chief and hopefully breathing new life into the franchise. The game is scheduled to release in the Fall of 2020 on Xbox One, PC, and Xbox's unreleased next-gen console, Project Scarlett. Hopefully, Tim Longo's departure doesn't spell disaster and the game can live up to the heavy expectations of Halo fans.

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