Xbox’s roadmap for 2019 highlights many major games coming to the platform, but notably misses out on any mention of a Halo Infinite release date in the coming year. The next chapter in the Halo franchise was one of the focal points of Microsoft’s E3 2018 show, with many fans expecting the game to release in 2019.
While a Halo Infinite release date has not yet been announced, this absence suggests that Xbox is delaying the release until 2020, possibly as part the agenda for its next-generation console. With reports of two next-gen consoles codenamed Xbox Scarlett coming in 2020, the Halo Infinite release date might be planned as a launch exclusive for these consoles.
The Xbox roadmap instead celebrated the anticipated exclusive releases of Crackdown 3, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Gears 5, Gears Pop!, and Minecraft: Dungeons on the Xbox One, in addition to updates for Sea of Thieves. More games are also expected to come from the ID@Xbox program, including The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti, Tunic and ATLAS.
Looking back on 2018, the same post celebrated the success of the Xbox Game Pass in 2018. With 116 games being added in the past year, subscribers to the Game Pass library reportedly increased their total play time by 20%, while the average back-catalog game saw it’s usage increase sixfold after joining the roster of available games. The service is also expected to be made available on PC in the near future.
Likewise, Xbox also highlighted the creation of The Initiative and the acquisition of seven game studios, bolstering their roster of in-house development for the future. Microsoft also launched Mixer, their streaming platform, with their audience doubling to 20 million by the end of 2018. The advent of cross-platform play was briefly mentioned in Xbox’s look back on 2018, after they partnered with Fornite to enable users across the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC and mobile to play together.
