Following the successful Halo 5: Guardians beta, no one really expected to hear anything about the game until e3. The team over at 343 Industries needs time to take the beta's feedback into account and work on the game, so releasing a new gameplay demo or video before the year's biggest gaming show is out of the question.

Then again, in today's world of leaks, nothing really ever goes according to plan. For example: an image showing a beaten and broken Master Chief surfaced on Reddit today - and while fans are no stranger to seeing the Chief in a less-than-healthy state, the fact that the photo is clearly of a live-action set started a whirlwind of fan speculation.

In the photo, the Master Chief is lying up against what appears to be a memorial of some sort. The stone slab has the words "duty and honor above all" engraved in it - is it possible that the memorial the Chief is laying on is the same one seen at the end of Halo 3?

Interestingly enough, it seems as if Agent Locke - Halo 5's secondary protagonist - has either succeeded in tracking the Chief down or merely found him. 343 Industries has made it clear that Locke's story in Halo 5 is all about tracking the Master Chief down - here, it seems, Locke has been successful in that regard.

Of course, all of this is speculation until Microsoft makes a statement on the matter. Somewhat surprisingly, the publisher has actually issued a statement (most tend to go the 'no comment' route) via IGN:

"Xbox and Halo have a tradition of creating rich, narrative events to entertain and delight fans, including award-winning campaigns such as Starry Night, Believe, Remember Reach and more. We have no details to share at this time but look forward to exciting and surprising fans later this year as work continues on Halo 5: Guardians."

While it's entirely possible that the photo is fake in some way, shape or form, Microsoft's statement seems to hint at some sort of live-action media outside of Halo: Nightfall. Ever since Halo 3's massive marketing campaign, Halo games have always been accompanied by live-action shorts - perhaps this is an early glimpse at Halo 5's?

For now, everything is still up in the air - otherwise, fans can expect to see more of Halo 5: Guardians at e3 2015 in June.