Halo: Infinite is one of the most anticipated upcoming games, especially for Xbox fans. After getting the mantle of responsibility from Bungie, 343 Industries has been hard at work to deliver a true Halo experience for the fans. However, after a mediocre multiplayer showing with Halo 4 and a disappointing Halo 5 campaign, eyebrows have been raised on whether 343 is even capable of providing that experience to the players.
With Halo: Infinite, however, 343 Industries has promised that it would go back to the roots of Halo Combat Evolved and try to recreate the magic formula. With the new Slipspace engine and a radical change in direction, Halo: Infinite looked set to be THE Halo game that all of us were hoping for.
However, a rather underwhelming gameplay demo shown during the Xbox Games Showcase in June turned the narrative upside down again. After receiving a lot of criticism, especially for the graphical fidelity of the game, 343 Industries announced that Halo: Infinite will be getting delayed till 2021.
While the developer mentioned Covid-19 as one of the reasons for the delay, there is no question that the negative feedback impacted the decision as well.
As a result, Microsoft went with the sane option to release Halo: Infinite in its best and finished form next year, skipping the launch target for the Xbox Series X.
Halo: Infinite will not be getting delayed any further
Earlier this week, rumors started to spur out of media outlets stating that Halo: Infinite might be getting delayed even further, until 2022. This rumor was paired with another rumor that stated that 343 has also decided to let go of the Xbox One version of the game, which, according to a lot of people, was holding back the next-gen experience of Halo: Infinite.
In addition to that, the news that there were some serious internal issues within 343 Industries with regard to outsourcing the game only stoked the flames.
Also read: Halo Infinite multiplayer will be free-to-play running at 120 FPS
However, John Junyszek, who is the Halo Community Manager at 343 Industries has just come out and stated that all of these rumors are false. He reiterated that 343 will be continuing on its plan to release the game next year and they don’t plan on changing that either.
Hey Eric – we're seeing lots of fake "leaks" out there, so please don't believe everything you read. There are no plans to change our 2021 release or the devices and platforms we'll be supporting. We're building Halo Infinite to be the best it can be on each device/platform ?
— John Junyszek (@Unyshek) August 25, 2020
Furthermore, he also stated that there are no plans to change the devices or platforms that are being supported for Halo: Infinite. This means that the game will be coming to Xbox One as well. And, while this may not make a lot of people happy, it is at least in line with Phil Spencer’s recent statements about supporting the older consoles.
Many people have stated that getting rid of the Xbox One version could do wonders for Halo: Infinite. However, those presenting the opposing argument have said that since the game has been designed from the ground up to be running on the Xbox One as well, ditching that version would not actually make much of a difference this late in the release cycle.
Additionally, we have no clue how close Halo: Infinite actually is to completion. It could come out in the first quarter of 2021, or we could end up waiting until the Holiday season next year.
We do need to remember though that 343 Industries was fully committed to delivering Halo: Infinite this November until just a few weeks ago before all the criticism made them change their plans. So, this could just be a case of polishing the game further and it might actually not be too far from release.
In any case, what we do know now is that we can get our hands on Halo: Infinite next year whether it is on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, or Project xCloud. And, while they haven’t released a Halo game that can replicate the original trilogy’s success, the road to Infinite has been quite promising.
Do you think that we’ll be getting a good Halo game next year from 343 Industries? Let us know down in the comments below!