It’s been known for a while now that Texas-based support studio Certain Affinity is working on a “new and exciting” mode for Halo Infinite, and now noted Microsoft insider Jez Corden has seemingly spilled the beans on the latest episode of The Xbox Two podcast. There has already been plenty of speculation that Certain Affinity’s new mode may be some form of battle royale, and apparently, Corden has received confirmation of that. This new Halo battle royale won’t be some hastily assembled toss-off either, as Corden claims it’s been in development for at least two years, and is similar in scale and ambition to other battle royale games like Call of Duty Warzone.

　　I have information that suggests it's battle royale. That it's some form of battle royale. I don't know if it's going to be specifically a clone of PUBG and stuff like that, but this is going to be a huge mode. This mode has been in development for over two years at Certain Affinity and it's a big deal. It's a huge investment and they've been working on it for a really long time. This isn't just [...] a few game modes here and there, this is a big [Call of Duty] Warzone-scale undertaking. It's basically like a separate game.

　　The goal of this mode is to bring in new players to the Halo franchise. [...] People who aren't familiar with Halo. [...] This is gunning for the Fortnite audience, the Warzone audience. This is going to go a bit broader. And I have received information that it is some form of battle royale. It's going to have a shrinking arena. I don't know if it's going to be a team-based sort of thing like Apex Legends or if it's going to be more of a solo thing. [...] I believe it's targeting Season 3. [...] It could be delayed, but I believe it's either going to be Season 3 or Season 4 and probably will be revealed at their gameplay showcase.

　　Considering how disappointingly-slow Halo Infinite content updates have been arriving, a battle royale mode launching during Season 3 seems unlikely. Then again, it’s being developed by Certain Affinity, not 343 Industries, so who knows? Rolling out a big battle royale mode would certainly generate some excitement and perhaps buy 343 some time to get their house in order. Of course, take this with a grain of salt for now -- hopefully, more official information on Certain Affinity's new mode isn't too far off.

　　Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Its second season of content finally arrives on May 3 (get more details here).