Halo Infinite has been in development for quite some time now. Originally slated for release in 2020 alongside the launch of the Xbox Series X/S consoles, the game had to be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more.
Since then, 343 Industries has been hard at work on completing and polishing Halo Infinite. Players have been treated to some newer screenshots of weapons and characters which look great now, but no updates have been given regarding the newer release date. However, there is a multitude of factors and information at play, which can help make an educated guess on the matter.
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As stated before, Halo Infinite has been in development for quite some time. The game is rumored to have a budget of a whopping $500 million, which if true, makes it the most expensive video game ever made. The first gameplay showcase occurred on July 23 of last year, during the Xbox Games Showcase event.
While the showcase's visuals felt underwhelming to most fans, the gameplay systems did look complete. 343 Industries also stated that most of this negative reception had to do with facial expressions not being implemented for the Brutes and they weren't meant to be shown that way. Recently, 343 Industries published a few screenshots that serve to show that Halo Infinite is almost complete and is nearing its final phases.
The weapon screenshots in Halo Infinite look phenomenal as well as the shiny armor-plated soldiers. Fans have yet to see a new piece of gameplay, but that looks to be sooner rather than later since the game is slated to come out later this year. Overall, while nothing can be certain, it seems like 343 is trucking along and that fans will indeed get a new Halo this fall.
Most of the Halo games, regardless of the developer, have been released in more or less the same time frame. The earliest mainline Halo games were released in September, such as fan-favorites Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. Others mostly released in November during the Holiday season, such as Xbox's launch title Halo: Combat Evolved.
Halo Infinite could very well follow that trend, and most signs point towards it being the case. Microsoft has a pretty strong line-up of Xbox Series X games releasing in 2021. However, most of these aren't the big-budget AAA exclusives that would surely drive sales for Microsoft's new machines. Among the list of Xbox games releasing in 2021, Halo Infinite is easily the most anticipated of the bunch, and this may very well suggest a November 2021 release date. Although an exact date is harder to nail down, November 10, 2021 becomes uniquely "shiny": it would be day-and-date one year after the Series X/S launch. One big counter to this, though, is that video games typically release on Tuesdays and Fridays, opening up any of these dates in November 2021, but November 10 is a Wednesday.
Most gamers couldn't get their hands on a shiny new Xbox console last holiday season due to the shortage and scalping, and the issue still persists to this day. While the situation is bound to get better in the future, releasing the game on the day and date of the console's launch anniversary will give gamers a pretty strong reason to invest in the console as well as the game.
Halo Infinite is set to release in 2021 for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.
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