An unannounced Halo battle royale game in development at studio Certain Affinity has allegedly been cancelled, per insider reports. Speaking on the XboxEra podcast, reporter Nick Baker (aka Shpeshal_Nick) claimed the long-rumoured game had been unceremoniously cancelled at some point.
Notably, the Halo battle royale game was only ever spoken about in vague terms, with no official announcement from Certain Affinity, Halo developer 343 Industries, or parent company Microsoft. It was only referred to by its codename – Project Tatanka – with this name popping up several times over the last few years.
As reported by Eurogamer, Certain Affinity began speaking more openly about the project in late 2022. At the time, executive Paul Sams said the studio’s mystery project had been in development for two years, with 100 staff working on it. Tatanka was referred to as a battle royale mode for Halo Infinite, but in a Bloomberg report, there were also hints that it could “evolve” in future.
Read: Halo Infinite Review – Campaign and Multiplayer
“The biggest thing we’re doing that’s public right now, for more than two years now we’ve been working on Halo Infinite doing something that – they’re very prescriptive about what we can say,” Sams told VentureBeat at the time. “But we’re doing something unannounced, and we’re doing lead development on that unannounced thing, from conception and design. It’s something big and new for the franchise. But I can’t say any more about it.”
Since these comments, word of Project Tatanka has dried up. At this stage, it’s unclear what happened, and whether rumours of its cancellation are accurate. Current speculation is that the declining popularity of Halo Infinite inspired the end of development but at this stage, not much is known.
Beyond teases from Certain Affinity, the rumoured Halo battle royale project has never been revealed in any great detail. And until official word from Microsoft, 343 Industries, or Certain Affinity, the cancellation of Project Tatanka remains – like the game itself – a mystery.
