Halo: Gravemind Leak Is "Fake News," Exec Says

Just days before E3, an image for what purports to be a new Halo game appeared online today. You may not want to get your hopes up, however, as a Halo higher-up is saying it's "fake news."

A screen capture of what appears to be marketing material shared on Snapchat shows an unannounced Halo game, Halo Gravemind, with Creative Assembly mentioned as the developer. A release date of October 10, 2017 is displayed. A "6" can be seen at the bottom, with the suggestion being that Gravemind might in some way tie into the next numbered entry in the series.

While Halo 6 is a real game that is happening, it looks like Gravemind is not. Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor responded to the Gravemind image today on Twitter, calling it "fake news." He also used the hashtag #MHGA, or Make Halo Great Again.

The tweet in full reads: "Fakey McFakeskins tell me oh, how does your bogus 'game leak' grow? With silver bells and photoshopped cockleshells. FAKE NEWS! #MHGA!"

Another tweet says: "The Tom Morello barn leak is the apex of artistic leaks. It will never be topped for sheer frenetic madness."

We have contacted Microsoft in an attempt to get more details. We'll update this post with anything we hear back .

The Gravemind is the final form of the parasite-like evil alien force called The Flood, first appearing in Halo 2. People are speculating that Halo: Gravemind could be a horror game, and that would seem to be in Creative Assembly's wheelhouse, as the studio made Alien: Isolation. More recently, the UK-based team developed the Halo RTS, Halo Wars 2.

Microsoft has already confirmed that Halo 6 will not be at E3, though the company did intriguingly say that it will have a "little something" to show at E3 related to Halo.

The Xbox E3 2017 briefing is scheduled for Sunday, June 12, starting at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET. Earlier today, Microsoft confirmed that the show will be longer than usual because it wants to show more games. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.