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Halo Infinite Delayed Until 2021

Microsoft’s flagship first-person shooter won’t make Xbox Series X launch

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In a blow to anyone who was anticipating the return of Halo later this year, we’ve today heard the news that in fact, Halo Infinite will not be releasing this year, instead, it’s been delayed to 2021. We don’t even know when in 2021 it’s going to be until Halo Infinite is released, since developer 343 Industries haven’t even nailed down a particular quarter, never mind a month, so we could be in for the long haul.

In the statement detailing the announcement, they have listed issues such as the impact of COVID-19 and wanting to avoid crunch, but these don’t particularly carry much weight. COVID-19 was very much a factor prior to its recent gameplay debut, but they were still talking about it being there on the Xbox Series X day one. Microsoft has also had a publicly stated anti-crunch policy for several years, where the head of Xbox Studios Matt Booty said the following in 2018:

“I’ll just say, in the interest of time, that’s one of the big advantages of being part of Microsoft. There’s a huge cultural focus at our company on work-life balance. Our CEO has got this amazing thing he says: “Really, the company is there to work for you, not for you to work for the company.” He wants your job to be in service of moving your life forward.”

So it seems unlikely that Microsoft would have had to delay Halo Infinite in order to accommodate any new change in policies surrounding staff well-being.

Far more likely the real reason for the delay is the negative response Halo Infinite received, especially in the graphics department. This delay announcement is hot off the heels of the development team acknowledging the complaints that have been directed towards the game, and announcing that they planned to “address some of the feedback”, and perhaps this delay was the solution they arrived on. Spend more time working on the game, to get it to a place where it is at least meeting people’s expectations, rather than falling short.

The statement in full:

“Today I want to share an important Halo Infinite development update with the community. We have made the difficult decision to shift our release to 2021 to ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision.

The decision to shift our release is the result of multiple factors that have contributed to development challenges, including the ongoing COVID-related impacts affecting us all this year. I want to acknowledge the hard work from our team at 343 Industries, who have remained committed to making a great game and finding solutions to development challenges. However, it is not sustainable for the well-being of our team or the overall success of the game to ship it this holiday.

We know this will be disappointing to many of you and we all share in that sentiment. The passion and support the community has shown over the years has been incredible and inspiring. We wanted nothing more than to play our game with the community this holiday. The extra time will let us finish the critical work necessary to deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever at the quality we know our fans expect.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Chris Lee

Studio Head, Halo Infinite”

This is a massive blow to Microsoft’s Xbox Series X launch game, which is perhaps going to be the first new console to ever launch without a flagship game. There’s now a gaping hole in the launch line up, that has me speculating whether Microsoft is going to open their wallet to try and perhaps secure some third party heavy hitters for their Game Pass service. Maybe Cyberpunk 2077 or Watchdogs Legion could end up being available on Game Pass?

For us on PC though, I think this is all-around good news. We’ve still got the excellent recent PC release of Master Chief Collection to be playing with if we’re in the mood for a Halo fix in the meantime, and delaying this game is likely to result in it being a better and more polished title by the time it comes out. We know that the game is going to be using some kind of raytracing lighting solution when it comes out, which we’ve not yet seen. This could help alleviate some of the problems with the underwhelming graphics, and by 2021 there will be new GPUs that are far more capable in this department too. Since the PC release has not had the baggage of being propped up as a flagship game for a new console, it just means a longer wait, rather than any larger concern.

The pressure is now on for 343 Industries and Microsoft to deliver. It’s been quite some time since a new Halo game has really impressed people, arguably not since Bungie left the series, and this delay shows that they’re at least aware that an underwhelming new Halo game isn’t something that the world needs. It’s going to be curious how the final game turns out, and what changes are made. We’re crossing our fingers for the best, but this is somewhat unprecedented.

This is probably the right move for the game, and the team developing it, but it could be a disaster for the Xbox Series X launch lineup.

AT WEPC

Lewie Procter

Lewie skews Chaotic Good where possible, and loves pressing buttons, viewing pixels and listening to sounds. He's written for publications like Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, VG247 and Kotaku UK, and spent 13 years running Savy Gamer. If you ever get the chance you should ask him to tell you the story about that time he had a fight with a snake on an island off the coast of Cambodia.