Halo Infinite seems to be on track for launch the year, but fans are wary of another delay. Despite Starfield getting a specific release date of November 11, 2022, Halo Infinite still has a nebulous launch window of “Holiday 2022.” This leads some to believe that Microsoft may end up delaying the Halo Infinite release date again.
Will Halo Infinite be delayed again?
It’s highly unlikely that Halo Infinite will be delayed again, though anything is possible. It seems like marketing is starting to ramp up, and a good chunk of the game has been shown during E3 2021. This time around, the fan reaction was fairly positive, and Microsoft seems committed to the Holiday 2021 release window.
Halo Infinite was originally supposed to launch alongside the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. However, after fans reacted to the gameplay reveal negatively in July 2020, the title’s launch was postponed into 2021. Criticism was leveled at the graphics not looking next-gen. In particular, the design of the Brutes was ridiculed and led to the Craig the Brute meme.
The Tweet announcing the delay came from 343 Industries studio head Chris Lee and read:
“Today, I want to share an important Halo Infinite development update with the community. We have made the difficult decision to shift our release to 2021 to ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision.
The decision to shift our release is the result of multiple factors that have contributed to the development challenges, including the ongoing COVID-related impacts affecting us all this year. I want to acknowledge the hard work of our team at 343 Industries, who have remained committed to making a great game and finding solutions to development challenges. However, it is not sustainable for the well-being of our team for the overall success of the game to ship it this holiday.
We know this will be disappointing to many of you, and we all share in that sentiment. The passion and support the community has shown over the years has been incredible and inspiring. We wanted nothing more than to play our game with the community this holiday. The extra time will let us finish the critical work necessary to deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever at the quality we know our fans expect.
Thank you for your support and understanding.”
