Halo 5 release date possibly leaked

Microsoft hasn't announced an official release date for Halo 5: Guardians, but thanks to a photo posted to Twitter by a new employee at developer 343 Industries, we may already know.

Michael Cavanaugh, who recently joined 343 Industries, posted a photo of him standing in front of a 343 Industries banner with what looks to be a countdown clock below. On the clock, the numbers read: "382" along with what looks like 16-or-so hours. Assuming these numbers represent days, 382 days from now would be November 10, 2015 — the possible release day of Halo 5: Guardians.

There's a couple of things adding to the weight of this rumor, the most obvious being numerous Halo games have traditionally been released in early November, including Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 4, and next month's Halo: The Master Chief Collection. What's more, November 10, 2015 is actually a Tuesday, the traditional release date for new games in the United States. With Halo 5 due out "sometime" in 2015, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection coming next month, the year wait just makes sense.

For what it's worth, the original tweet and image is still up on Cavanaugh's Twitter, so if it is indeed the release date, Microsoft and 343 Industries aren't clueing us in by forcing him to remove it. However, over on NeoGAF, a 343 Industries Community Coordinator has stepped forward, claiming that the "'clock' reads different numbers everyday. I don't think anyone actually knows what it's for."

As a reminder, anyone who purchases Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be granted access to Halo 5's beta which runs from December 29, 2014 through January 17, 2015.