343 Industries director Chris Lee departs studio and Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite director Chris Lee has departed from 343 Industries after twelve years of employment. 

Broken by Bloomberg, the news of Lee’s leave from the Halo studio marks the second director to leave the project in the past two years of development.

Chris Lee is still employed by Microsoft but is currently looking towards new opportunities after over a decade at the exclusively Halo studio.

I have stepped back from Infinite and I am looking at future opportunities,” Lee said. “I believe in the team and am confident they will deliver a great game and now is a good time for me to step away.”

Bloomberg’s report of the departure of Chris Lee included a statement from Microsoft, simply stating that the director has taken a step back from the Halo Infinite project.

Chris Lee remains a Microsoft employee and while he has stepped back from Halo: Infinite right now, we appreciate all he has done for the project to date,” Microsoft said.

Halo Infinite was supposed to be a launch title for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles this November, but the title was delayed until next year to meet the quality standards that developer 343 Industries wants the game to have. Earlier this year, we reported that complex engine changes were done to the game’s long-hyped Slipspace Engine to meet performance budgets on last-gen machines.

Veteran Halo developer Joseph Staten has since joined the project to help the title reach the end of its development process.