343 Industries has announced that Halo Infinite will launch in 2021, missing its original “holiday 2020″ release window.
“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,” studio head Chris Lee explained via Twitter. “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.”
Halo Infinite was previously planned to be the crown jewel in the Xbox Series X launch window. A recent gameplay reveal showed the game to be a return to the series’ roots with an added open-world spin. The graphics, however, were decried as not being up to snuff for a next-gen game, prompting a response from the studio explaining the process of developing Infinite’s visuals and its overall goal for the project’s aesthetics.
“We know this will be disappointing to many of you and we all share in that sentiment,” Lee’s statement continues. “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.”
Tim Longo, former Halo Infinite creative director, left 343 Industries almost a year ago during what sources described to Kotaku at the time as a shift in leadership. Longo had previously served in the same role on Halo 5: Guardians.
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10 responses to “Halo Infinite Delayed To 2021”
Daaamn that sucks. Arr well, i guess i don’t have to choose between Cyberpunk, assassins creed and halo all at the same time. Hard choices
Microsoft came on so strong with their next gen messaging around a year ago (full backwards compatibility, game pass day 1 games, super powerful console) and they kept this momentum into this year and now as we approach the final 6 months they’ve dropped the ball so much it’s easy to see how Sony is going to just walk away with the next generation already.
Having no tent pole launch titles to make people move onto the next gen means they’ll move on to the PS5.
I agree that there’s no reason to get an Xbox Series X this year, but there isn’t really much reason to get a PS5 this year either is there -most of their games seem to be 2021 and beyond as well?
All of this was bound to happen with this pandemic implosion happening. Wish they just delayed the new consoles to 2021, tbh.
No reason to get an xbox X apart from being able to upgrade you console and still play all games enhanced with backwards compatibility and new games with the best settings visual.
I see the argument, but if you have a perfectly fine xbox one (or even an xbox one x) right now, you’re not getting any new experiences on xbox series x other than ‘that looks prettier’. It’s like watching netflix in HD and then watching it in 4K, yes it’s prettier but the movie was the same..
Sony at least has launch games to woo gamers across.
I am not saying this as a fanboy of either, I’m just trying to look at it in a completely objective light. PS4 has more consoles out there, so more instant buy in for PS5. Microsoft needed to make those gamers move across and I can’t see that now without anything major to make them move.
What are Sony’s launch games?
I don’t think they have much for launch games either. I think Miles Morales is a launch game but it’s really only a standalone DLC.
Other than that, it’s timed exclusives just like Xbox
I get what they say about the graphics. I watched the trailer and nothing really stood out at all. This is from someone whose primary gaming machine is a Switch.
Obviously the graphics aren’t the best even for this gen. But people should realise it should’ve been released last year or even 2018. It’s been delayed – the new engine is a big part of that, but also because if it’s releasing just before the new console, might as well make it a launch (obviously they’ve missed that now)
Infinite simply isn’t supposed to showcase next gen tech
Well i think that about confirms its gonna suck.
Seems like panic to the backlash of that gameplay reveal. They would have known then if they were likely to have a delay (especially a long one like this).
But they’ve been working on this for 5 years, cant see 6 months (or less) being enough to overhaul basically their whole game.
Cancelling of the beta, announcement of F2P, complete disappointment of a reveal and then a delay. Basically hit game clusterfuck bingo. I can’t think of many if any games that have such bad signs and then go on to be good games (at launch)