Halo Infinite Recruits Ex-Bungie Lead to Help Hit 2021 Release Date

343 Industries is bringing back one major helping hand to help with the development of Halo Infinite. Ex-Bungie developer Joseph Staten is returning to help guide the upcoming game towards its current 2021 release target.

Developer 343 Industries announced Staten's return to Halo earlier today, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report. After he helps launch Dontnod's Tell Me Why later this week, Staten will be returning to the franchise that he helped develop under Bungie, before working on Destiny and eventually joining Xbox Game Studios in 2014.

While Staten is being brought on board as a project lead to help with Halo Infinite's campaign, there's another lead joining 343 to focus on the multiplayer aspect of the game. Pierre Hintze joins Infinite's development team from Halo: The Master Chief Collection's marketing department, and he'll be helping launch the free-to-play multiplayer portion of Infinite.

The developer post from 343 also briefly addresses the rumors that Halo Infinite would be delayed to 2022, as well as dropping the Xbox One version of the game (both of which they have previously denied). "From rumors of dropping support for the Xbox One to releasing the game in 2022, there seem to be new headlines popping up every day," the post reads. "As we get closer to sharing more and more news, please only trust statements that are made by official Halo channels, members of our studio leadership, or members of the Community Team."

Halo Infinite remains scheduled to launch in 2021, delayed from launching alongside the upcoming Xbox Series X in late 2020. It'll be the first game in the series to introduce an open-world section to the campaign, as well as launching with a free-to-play multiplayer component.