The release date of Halo 5: Guardians may have been accidentally leaked through a photo posted on Twitter.
The new Twitter photo was uploaded by a reportedly new employee at game developer, 343 Industries. There are two guys in the picture. One of them is Michael Cavanaugh, the alleged new employee of the Halo developer. The two were standing in what appears to be a large pantry with some people working at a table behind them. Another noticeable thing behind them is a countdown clock below the giant "343 Industries" banner.
Cavanaugh posted the photo on his Twitter account with the caption, "I'm extremely happy and humbled to join the 343 Industries team to work on @Halo 5: Guardians!"
According to IGN.com, some speculated that the countdown clock showing "382" represents days, and counting forward from the post date of October 24, 2014, would lead to November 10, 2015. This spurred social media users to think that "Halo 5: Guardians" will be released in November next year, considering that several titles in the Halo franchise have also been launched early in November, such as "Halo: Combat Evolved," "Halo 2," "Halo 4" and the latest "Halo: The Master Chief Collection", which is also set to release early in November 2014. Cavanaugh has not deleted the tweet so far, so there is also the possibility that the countdown clock is not entirely related to "Halo 5."
A few hours after the IGN report, however, Microsoft gave an update telling IGN, "The recent rumors regarding the release date of 'Halo 5: Guardians' are false."
Meanwhile, in a report by GameSpot, Microsoft announced that a special live-stream event called "HaloFest" will be held on November 10, which is one night before the big release of "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" for Xbox One. The event will happen at the Avalon Theatre in Los Angeles at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
Gamers can see developer interviews, the debut episode of "Halo: Nightfall" and some of the initial footage of "Halo 5: Guardians," GameSpot added. Viewers can tune in via Xbox Live, Xbox.com and Twitch. For the first look at "Halo 5: Guardians" multiplayer beta, an exhibition match will be played among professional players. This way, gamers will see how the game looks like. "Halo 5" beta will reportedly start on December 29 but players will need to purchase the "Halo: Master Chief Collection" to gain access.