Microsoft Insists Gearbox is Not Making a New Halo Game

A rumor popped up just about a year ago that Gearbox Software (makers of the upcoming Borderlands) was tasked by Microsoft to make a new Halo game, possibly even as the premier launch title for the next generation of Xbox hardware. But according to a post on the official Halo Waypoint Twitter account (via CVG), it turns out this rumor is apparently bogus: "For the record, Gearbox is NOT working on a Halo title for Microsoft," the message reads.

So, that’s that? Seems like it is, although this also seems like a curiously timed and oddly anti-climactic way for a rumor as big as the potential development of Halo 4 for the next Xbox to be put to rest. After all, if it was always the case that this rumor was untrue, way didn’t Microsoft snuff it out when it first popped up nearly a full year ago? And also note that this comes on the heels of Gearbox president Randy Pitchford refusing to outright deny the rumor himself when asked by Eurogamer in a recent interview.

But still, the point remains: Gearbox is NOT working on a Halo title for Microsoft... if Microsoft is to be believed. But unless something has changed over the last year, this doesn’t change the fact that Gearbox is still working on something that Pitchford described at the time as "big. It’s, like, look-at-our-line-up-and-imagine-something-even-bigger kind of big...When you find out what this is, you’ll likely agree that I can’t oversell this one."

Well then, if it’s not Halo... what is it? Looks like we’ll have to continue to wait and see.