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'Halo Infinite' director Chris Lee steps down amid production turmoil

It's not a great look for the delayed flagship Xbox title.

343 Industries/Microsoft

Halo Infinite director and studio head Chris Lee has stepped down from his role on the troubled game. Lee was overseeing the long-awaited next entry in the Halo series, which was supposed to arrive alongside the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles next month. However, Microsoft and 343 Industries have delayed Halo Infinite to sometime next year.

Lee has been with 343 Industries since 2008 and he has worked on several entries in the series, including Halo Reach, Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. He's still a Microsoft employee and he told Bloomberg he's "looking at future opportunities. 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.”

There's been a bit of a personnel merry go round during the development of Halo Infinite. Lee is the second project lead to leave the team in the last two years. Creative director Tim Longo and executive producer Mary Olson departed last year.

Microsoft roped in Halo veteran Joe Staten to oversee the single-player campaign in August. Around the same time, Pierre Hintze, who led the Halo: The Master Chief Collection publishing team, stepped in to lead development of the free multiplayer modes. As such, Lee's role on the project was somewhat reduced.