343 Industries, the development team behind the much-anticipated shooter, Halo Infinite, has announced via a blog post that the title has been delayed and will now release in 2021 due to development challenges, including COVID-19-related impacts.
Here’s the entire statement from 343 Industries Studio Head, Chris Lee:
“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 development challenges, including the ongoing COVID-related impacts affecting us all this year. I want to acknowledge the hard work from 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 or 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.”
The next entry in the renowned Halo franchise was set to release as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, but now that the title isn’t coming for another year or so, it’s going to be difficult for Microsoft to convince consumers to purchase the new console on day one.
In other news, Microsoft has announced that the Xbox Series X will indeed release in November (to nobody’s surprise), tightening that release window just a smidge.
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