It’s hard to overcome how damaging the ‘halo infinite’ delay is in launching the Xbox Series X

Yesterday, Microsoft shocked the world when it announced that Halo Infinite would be delayed until 2021, and would, in fact, not be the long-awaited launch title for Xbox Series X.

I mentioned this, or at least cried in front of this, a few weeks ago when 343 first showed Halo Infinite campaign material and it just … did not seem ready. And despite avid fans claiming that this was just an “old build” and that the final product would just be available at launch this year, Microsoft and 343 appear to disagree.

To be clear, two things can be true:

Delaying Halo Infinite is a good thing, because releasing an unfinished, underwhelming Halo title would be worse than releasing nothing at all, given that it’s Microsoft’s flagship series. And like I said, almost all major AAA games have been delayed at least a few times, and Halo has never been. Moreover, we have the COVID pandemic that makes development even harder. A delay is perfectly understandable.

And yet, it’s hard to imagine just how devastating this is for the launch of the Xbox Series X and / or Series S this November, the release month that has now been confirmed. Microsoft has promised Halo Infinite as the launch title from practically the moment the console was announced, and it would be a rare flagship release for a new gen console, which we rarely see.

But without Halo, Xbox Series X hat really has nothing. The title of the launch of the debut will have to be like Cyberpunk 2077 with the marketing deal it has with CDPR, even though it’s a game that will also be on PS4 and PC (provided that it is also not delayed). Microsoft showed off many upcoming first-party games in the latest showcase, and yet Fable, Avowed, Forza and most of the others are still very, very far away. Not one of them is even close to launch, and I would be shocked if any of them arrived before 2022.

You may say “well, Sony is not in a much better position,” except they are. Sony has the advantage of coming off a massive PS4 generation, so even if we were by default with both PS5 and Series X zero major first-party releases at launch and only sharing third-party titles, Sony will likely win because of market loyalty only, with some analysts predicting 2 to 1 dominance of sales echoing the latest generation. Sony does not have nothing, they still have Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which may not be a full game, because it’s more of a spin-off, but it is eat. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see special editions of recent smash hits The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima made for PS5, or free upgrades as new releases.

Microsoft has nothing! I’m not trying to be mean as a console war fanboy, but without Halo they are exclusive rely on major AAA third-party releases for the indefinite future and a spread of smaller titles like Medium. They have Game Pass, yes, but these new great games will not be it op Game Pass for a while, short of a curve as the new expansion of Destiny 2, Beyond Light, launches on it.

Again, Halo had to be delayed. That much became clear from the last showcase, despite how many excuses were made for how it looked. But that absolutely leaves the Series X high and dry for the indefinite future, probably at least until spring 2021 as early as, because Halo does not even have a new release date yet. Sony, again, has none enormous heavy hitters coming, yet they are in such a strong position that it does not make sense. Now Microsoft’s best weapon manages to produce low prices for the Series X and S, making them the ‘better’ option for third-party games they share with Sony and PC. But we do not know if they will manage that too. Not a great situation around.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube en Instagram. Picking up my sci-fi novels Herokiller en Herokiller 2, and read my first series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also on audiobook.