Halo: Reach on September 14

Associated Press (AP) have released a story that reveals the release date of Halo: Reach to be September 14 in Europe and North America (Japan one day later). It also reveals that the Halo: Reach beta was played by 2.7 million gamers between May 3 and May 20.

While we haven't gotten official word from Microsoft yet, this is as official as it gets. The story from AP is filled with quotes from Bungie such as the following quotes from Marcus Lehto, creative director on Halo: Reach:

"This is the most pressure we've ever been under," said Lehto. "This is the biggest 'Halo' title we've ever made, and we're worried there's 'Halo' fatigue out there. That's why we set out to add new twists, and we're happy to see people enjoy it, but it was a huge risk for us to release what's essentially a work in progress to almost 3 million people."

On leaving the Halo franchise after 13 years:

"It's absolutely bittersweet," said Lehto. "We created this. I was there on day one in 1997 back when it was just three of us working on what ultimately became 'Halo.' Now, we have the largest team we've ever had on a 'Halo' game. We're having fun, but closing this series out as the leader of this project, I will definitely be sad when it's all over."

Update: And now it's completely official. September 14 is on. The official press release came with a couple of extra goodies - beta testers combined for 1826 years of total playtime and there was this quote of grandeur:

"‘Halo: Reach' is the culmination of a decade of ‘Halo,' a franchise that has become a global entertainment and pop-culture touchstone," said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios at Microsoft Corp. "Just as ‘Halo: Combat Evolved' catalysed the success of the original Xbox to define a decade of entertainment, ‘Halo: Reach' will push the boundaries for what's possible in video games and help make 2010 the biggest year in Xbox history."