Halo: Infinite launch delayed to 2021
By: Kostas Farkonas
Tags: Gaming, Xbox, Microsoft, Xboxseriesx, Videogames

Road to NextGen 2020

Halo: Infinite launch delayed to 2021

Xbox Series X still a go for November, even without Master Chief’s help

Halo: Infinite’s Master Chief will not be present during the launch of the new Xbox in November, the title’s developer announced today. (Image credit: Microsoft)

It seems that the pandemic of COVID-19 will continue to have an impact on the video games market for some time to come and it’s newest victim is none other than Master Chief, the main character of the Halo series who would make a comeback with Halo: Infinite later this year along Microsoft’s newest system, the Xbox Series X. The title was meant to be the “killer-app” of XSX but 343 Industries, its developer, announced today that Halo: Infinite will be made available at some point in 2021. The statement does indeed mention the pandemic as one of the factors that played a part in the decision to delay the game, but its lukewarm reception from fans during the Microsoft streaming event on July 23rd may have had something to do with it as well.

In the days and weeks that followed that event 343 Industries and Microsoft did admit that Halo: Infinite “needed work in order to raise the fidelity of the game and the overall presentation of its final form”, so if the delay means that Halo fans will get a superior title come 2021, few will complain.

The Xbox Series X will have to make do with other launch games during its November debut and it does seem that not many of those can help like a new Halo would (Image credit: Microsoft)

This does leave the Xbox Series X without a big exclusive for its launch, though, which could prove to be a problem for Microsoft. The Redmond giant confirmed that the XSX will be made available as planned and even made it official for November (as we’ve all been anticipating anyway). Rumor has it that the launch is scheduled for the first week of that month — which would make sense since it does have to be before Thanksgiving and Black Friday — but that time frame could change at any time.

With Halo: Infinite not present for the Xbox Series X launch Microsoft is expected to focus on the Xbox Game Pass service even more than before, as there will be a number of Xbox Series X optimized games in its catalog before the end of the year. The company in its statement also mentioned the “thousands of games” available for the XSX on day one, meaning all of the Xbox One games and Xbox 360 games that consumers can play on the newest system through the backwards compatibility function.

Consumers going for an Xbox Series X this November will get a few older AAA games optimized for their new system as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription (Image credit: Microsoft)

The absence of Halo: Infinite during the launch window of a new Xbox is not exactly encouraging, of course, but fans may still get good news in August if the rumor of another important announcement proves to be true. That’s none other than the unveiling of Xbox Series S, the less capable but also cheaper system expected to be promoted along Xbox Series X at some point. The existence of XSS is all but confirmed by now — the full retail version of the new Xbox controller somehow broke cover in Chicago a few days ago mentioning Xbox Series S in its documentation — and it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft makes that official as well.

The Halo: Infinite delay, in any case, could be of some help to Sony’s plans for the PlayStation5. The Japanese company has not confirmed the launch date of its new system or which games will be available for it on that date, but November is also widely expected to be a PS5 month and there are rumors about several Sony titles being ready to serve as noteworthy “day-one exclusives”. If the initial lineup of PS5 games is stronger than the XSX one, then that might “tip the scales” for undecided consumers sitting on the fence regarding a choice between the two systems. Not long, now!