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Halo Infinite has a new release window: Fall 2021. The game’s creative director, Joseph Staten, announced on Tuesday, US local time, that the next Halo game will be released until next year. Halo Infinite was originally scheduled to debut alongside the launch of Microsoft’s next-gen consoles, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, in November (which was Fall 2020). This means that we are essentially looking for a one-year delay to the next main first-person Halo title, the sixth in the long-running franchise.
This is the first development news for Halo Infinite we’ve had since Microsoft-owned developer 343 Industries announced in August that the game would not be an Xbox Series S / X launch title, and that it would be delayed until 2021. Then, 343 Industries study director Chris Lee pointed to COVID-19 as one of the factors that “contributed to development challenges,” and pointed to the inclination to avoid the “crisis” (working overtime, including evenings and weekends, before a deadline) as another reason.
The one year delay suggests there is more to it than that. But the delay is a good thing, as it gives 343 Industries plenty of time to bring Halo Infinite to the desired level and meet the criticism that was made against the game’s trailer in July. One of the non-player character (NPC) brutes who had a deadpan expression became the face of Halo Infinite memes (and was named “Craig”) for the game’s visual fidelity, or rather, the lack of she.
In the new announcement, 343 Industries Community Director Brian Jarrard noted that Craig was not his “better self” in the July trailer, and Art Management Director Neill Harrison added that it was because the NPC facial animation had not been “fully implemented in that build” AND that all characters are “modeled in a neutral pose”, resulting in Craig’s “incredibly deadpan / lifeless look”. When Halo Infinite arrives next year, Craig and other NPCs will look very different, 343i claimed.
Additionally, 343 Industries also featured the first look at Halo Infinite’s multiplayer (work in progress) maps, which you can see below. While the game will be paid for (and is part of Xbox Game Pass), the multiplayer bits of Halo Infinite will be free.
Photo credit: 343 Industries
Photo credit: 343 Industries
Halo Infinite is due out Fall 2021 on Xbox Series S / X, Xbox One, and Windows 10 PCs.
