At Comic-Con last week, Lord of the Rings director and never-to-be Halo movie producer Peter Jackson told Joystiq he was no longer making a Halo game.
The Jackson project had been announced in September 2006 but never a screenshot nor gameplay detail was released in the three years since. The proposed Halo movie which Jackson was set to produce ran afoul of financing complications, as Jackson told Kotaku.
Last week, Jackson confirmed the game was dead, saying that it "sort of collapsed when the movie didn't end up happening."
In 2006, Jackson had expressed high hopes for the project, stating:
"My vision, together with Microsoft Game Studios, is to push the boundaries of game development and the future of interactive entertainment. From a movie-maker's point of view, it is clear to me that the Xbox 360 platform is the stage where storytellers can work their craft in the same way they do today with movies and books but taking it further with interactivity."
We asked Microsoft for an update about Jackson's scuttled Halo game and whether the project may live on without the filmmaker. This is what they had to say:
"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. 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."
Peter Jackson tells Joystiq about the Halo movie, video game project [Joystiq]