The Xbox Series X made an impressive debut last week, but its biggest launch title is still missing in action. Halo Infinite, the latest installment of Microsoft’s platform-defining action franchise, was originally planned to come out alongside the new Xbox. But in August, Microsoft-owned developer 343 Industries announced that it would be delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, 343 Industries Community Director Brian “ske7ch” Jarrard went on Reddit and broke a period of relative radio silence to offer fans a bit of news about what’s next for Infinite. While he said there won’t be any new information about the game at this year’s Video Game Awards ceremony in December, which is traditionally a big night for debuts and announcements, 343 hopes to offer fans more information in the near future.
From Jerrard’s post on the Halo subreddit:
“Right now we’re still going through the huge cascade of implications and ramifications to the release shift and the team is heads down working through nearly every facet of the game. Full disclosure: we don’t have anything planned for the VGAs, but are hoping to offer at least a high-level update in the next few weeks so we can restart this journey together after the holidays… I know it’s hard to wait, but the team is going to make the most of this extra time and we want to make sure we can put our best foot forward and commit to greater transparency and dialog on the road ahead. We’ll get there and get the train going again.”
The post offers an interesting look into the events surrounding Halo Infinite‘s delay.
For one thing, it’s become increasingly obvious that the decision to postpone the game’s release must’ve been very sudden, particularly after journalists had been given an extended look at the game back in July. For example, a number of cross-promotional deals with Halo Infinite, such as one with Monster energy drinks, are already on store shelves, and the Series X prominently features the Master Chief, Halo’s protagonist, on the back of its box. There’s a whole brand ecosystem in place around Infinite, which now only lacks the game itself.
A few behind-the-scenes changes have come alongside the delay, as project director Chris Lee “stepped back” from the project in late October. This follows the August return of Halo veteran Joseph Staten, an ex-Bungie employee and author of several tie-in novels such as Contact Harvest, as the project lead on Infinite‘s story campaign.
With big leadership shake-ups, as well as Jerrard’s stated plan to “restart this journey” after the 2020 holiday season, it looks increasingly like the earliest fans can expect Halo Infinite might be the second quarter of 2021.
That leaves the new Xbox with a lengthy hole in its first-party release schedule for the foreseeable future. That, as well as anticipated hardware shortages, are likely to become an issue as the launch-week hype begins to die down.
Halo has been a tentpole franchise for the Xbox line of consoles for almost 20 years, dating back to the original game in 2001. Originally developed by the Bellevue, Wash.-based studio Bungie, Halo was regarded as the “killer app” for the original Xbox, and the games in the franchise are a significant driver of the Xbox’s overall success as a platform.
343 Industries, headquartered in Redmond, Wash., was founded by Microsoft in 2007 specifically to continue development on the Halo franchise after Bungie went independent in 2007. Its first game in the series was the 2011 enhanced re-release of Halo: Combat Evolved, meant to celebrate the game’s 10th anniversary.
In other Halo news, which was somewhat overshadowed by the Series X’s launch, Showtime announced last week that the Halo live-action TV series has resumed production in Ontario. Filming was halted after five episodes due to COVID-19, as there really is some kind of “Halo curse,” but the crew is back at work as of Nov. 10.
We’re back on the #Halo set and #MakingMasterChief. ?: @schreiber_pablo pic.twitter.com/dFYKWRrwQR
— Halo on Showtime (@SHO_Halo) November 10, 2020
Due to the pandemic and its attendant effects on the show’s production schedule, the role of Cortana in the TV show has been recast. Jen Taylor, who has voiced Cortana in every game to date in the Halo games, is taking over the role from Natasha McElhone. However, McElhone is still listed as playing the live-action part of Dr. Catherine Halsey.
Microsoft on Tuesday also announced that Halo 4 is now available on PC, and the launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection optimized for Xbox Series X/S .
