It’s hard to imagine a world without Halo. All of our shooters that we know today would look nothing like they do without the existence of Halo: Combat Evolved. That’s not to even mention that the rest of the series is (mostly) special to many people in the world. With the imminent release of Halo Infinite, players were very excited to see what 343 Industries had in store for us next. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll be waiting a bit longer. The Halo Twitter account just announced that Halo Infinite is being delayed to 2021. This means it won’t launch with the release of the Xbox Series X later this year. You can find the said Twitter post below.
Halo Infinite Development Update pic.twitter.com/TFZvXhRN9f
— Halo (@Halo) August 11, 2020
The team mainly attributes Halo Infinite’s delay to a myriad of developmental challenges. Most notably, the issue of COVID-19 has delayed a lot of things for the game, as it has for many other companies. Due to the impact it would have on the staff, and the wish to send out a well-polished title to fans, the delay is necessary. Quite honestly, for these reasons, it’s much better they delay it. Putting a serious crunch on the staff for many months is really not going to help the final product, not to mention the livelihood of staff. It wouldn’t be a good thing for either party, so a delay here is the right call.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, this could have a profound impact on the release of the Xbox Series X. Halo Infinite was considered their big launch title for the console so to be missing that could affect sales tremendously. Some of that will be made up for next year’s release of the game, but it’ll still hold an impact. With many other Xbox Game Studios having things in the works for around that time, maybe that’ll be just enough to warrant a purchase.
We’ll have to wait until the console’s launch to confirm that though. Halo Infinite releases on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC in 2021. For now, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the delay. Do you think this was the right call by Microsoft and 343 Industries? What impact do you think it’ll hold on Xbox Series X sales? Let us know, and stay tuned at The Nerd Stash for all your news, reviews, and more!
