Microsoft claims that Peter Jackson’s Halo project isn’t canceled, it’s just “on hold,” despite the Lord of the Rings director himself saying earlier that the project had collapsed and was “no longer happening.”
Halo Chonicles was intended to be an episodic addition to the franchise developed by Jackson’s Wingnut Interactive game studio. Its existence was revealed in early 2007 but Jackson said earlier this month that when the Halo film fell apart, it took Halo Chronicles with it.
“That Halo project is no longer happening,” Jackson said. “It sort of collapsed when the movie didn’t end up happening.” Jackson’s manager Ken Kamins confirmed those remarks in an interview soon after.
But Microsoft, for its part, doesn’t seem to be quite ready to let go just yet. Like a persistent pet shop employee, the company issued a statement saying the game isn’t actually dead, it’s just “on hold.”
“Microsoft Game Studios is deeply committed to supporting and strategically growing the Halo franchise, and our relationship with Peter and his team is something that we greatly value,” the company said. “Given the bandwidth of both of our companies we’ve decided to put this joint effort on hold and prioritize resources against other projects like Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach and Halo Legends.”
An interesting twist, but it sounds like somebody’s not telling the whole truth. Could it be that Jackson’s mystery Halo project isn’t quite as dead as he led us to believe?
