Microsoft unveiled its biggest decision of the year this week – Halo Infinite after 2021 delayed from its original launch alongside the Xbox Series X console. By moving the release date, Microsoft has lost the major benefit of launching a new console alongside a Halo game – an act that would deliberately reflect the original Xbox debut in 2001.
The delay makes sense. I can not imagine the practical complications of completing a game of Halo’s scale when your work is at home during a global pandemic, but I bet it’s hard as hell. I hope this decision is really to the benefit of the development team in terms of well-being as Microsoft suggests it is.
While the decision is big, this is the year where I think a company can release a great console without a great exclusive and get away with it. I believe the PS5 will sell out anyway – a combination of enormous goodwill towards the PlayStation following the success of the PS4, demand for launch and the fact that game consoles will be sold for much of 2020 in a year of worldwide lockdowns, the PS5 will make a smash no matter what. A new Spider-Man game will not do any harm either.
Xbox One X meanwhile has Game Pass, backwards compatibility and the same third-party games that Sony will have. It now lacks an exclusive gameplay of the header, which is a major weakness. Chances are high that demand for the Xbox Series X will be high, however, especially during a holiday season where a second wave of coronavirus seems likely, and more of the players’ time will be spent.
If the PS5 sold out, in other words, the Xbox Series X would have to look like a viable alternative for anyone who wants to play FIFA or Call of Duty later this year.
Besides, it’s more important that Microsoft gets Halo Infinite right then out at the same time as the Xbox Series X. Halo actually has something to prove this time around. When it arrives, it will have been more than five years since the last entry in the Halo series. The world of online gaming has changed immensely since then, even as 343 Industries continues to support Halo 5.
While there is an evergreen element to the older Halo games – hence the continued success of The Master Chief Collection on PC – it’s hard to tell if Halo now means that much to newer players. Since Halo 5, these are just some of the multiplayer games that have been fighting for people’s attention: Rainbow Six Siege, Fortnite, PUBG, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, Overwatch, Escape from Tarkov, and CS: GO go play for free.
Halo will once again take on a world with many competitors in the online multiplayer space. It still has something unique to offer as a first-person shooter, given Halo’s specific pace and feel compared to its competitors. But the confirmation of free multiplayer suggests that Microsoft is well aware that it needs to adapt to the modern environment of online games.
Course correction
It’s also hard not to be surprised if the mixed reaction to the reveal of Halo Infinite is part of the reason this call was made. It’s true that not everyone was blown away by Halo back in July – I thought it actually looked great in motion, but agree that some of these screenshots were rough as hell. That’s not something a new Halo game should hang on to before launch.
You’ve probably seen the ‘Craig’ meme at this point, even part of the conversation about what Halo Infinite looks like. In the same spirit, the screenshot above was also extensively mocked, probably because it does not capture anyone’s idea of what a next-gen console game should look like.
Halo Infinite, however, has a lot of potential, though. As the first open world entry in the series, it is set in a traditional Halo-like environment, which only a really grumpy fan could cheer on (especially since we only saw a little bit of the world). The tendency toward classic enemy types such as the Brutes also suggests a move away from the Promethean enemies of the previous Halo games from 343 Industries, making the single-player offering feel a bit too un-Halo.
However, the risk of Halo becoming too insular – pleasing old players is one thing, but finding new fans is a challenge of its own for a series that is now 19 years old.
343 Industry and Microsoft should get Halo Infinite right to demonstrate that it is still a superpower as a console-selling exclusive series. Xbox actually does not have that many great series to fall back on – Halo, Gears of War and Forza are sort of. Meanwhile, Sony has Uncharted, The Last of Us, Spider-Man, God of War, Horizon, Gran Turismo and now Ghost of Tsushima in their back pocket.
However, the launch of a console is not all that it’s worth keeping in mind, as the discussion about Microsoft’s games intensifies line-up. Last generation launched the PS4 with Knack and Killzone: Shadow Fall, and it sold another 100 million units in the long run. Microsoft may be about to pay off this holiday season without an exclusive – but Halo Infinite may not be a mistake, around the series.
