The lead producer on 343 Industries’ upcoming Halo Infinite, Mary Olson, has left the studio to join Midwinter Entertainment.

　　Following the departure of the game’s creative director, Tim Longo, back in August of this year,  the game’s lead producer has now left the studio to join former Halo producer and creative director, Josh Holmes, at Scavengers developer Midwinter Entertainment.  According to Olson’s LinkedIn profile, she’s now the head of production at the Seattle based independent game development studio.

　　There have been various rumors that Olson took over Longo’s role following his departure, but as clarified by 343 Industries community manager John Junyszek, this isn’t the case.

　　“I wanted to jump in and clarify what Tim & Mary’s roles were at the studio, because there seems to be quite a bit of confusion here”, he writes on Reddit. “Before that happens though, I’d like to reassure everyone that the entire Halo Infinite team is rallying behind the game and is working hard to make sure we can execute on its vision.”

　　"Tim’s role as Creative Director was to help make creative decisions around the design and direction of the game – whether it was campaign, multiplayer, etc. Mary’s role as an Executive Producer and then Lead Producer on Campaign was to help drive the game to its completion for our holiday 2020 release date – with the latter specifically focusing on campaign deliverables. Unfortunately, the thread’s title saying, “He was replace with Mary Olson and she also left,” is far from accurate. It implies that Mary took over creative control of the entire game, didn’t like what she saw, and then decided to leave. If that’s what actually happened, I could totally understand getting worried – but that isn’t the case, as she was a Lead Producer and not a new Creative Director."

　　The community manager then pointed out that there’s no creative dilemma inside 343 Industries.

　　“Title is super misleading, there is no creative dilemma inside the studio, and there’s no writing on the walls”, he writes. ‘’Apologies for the long writeup, but I hope it helps clarify!”

　　Halo Infinite is slated for a holiday 2020 release alongside Microsoft’s new Xbox console.