Halo: Infinite Delay Is A DISASTER For The Xbox Series X

It's official: Halo: Infinite has been delayed. In a statement released on the official Halo Twitter account last night, 343 Industries explained its decision to push the game to 2021, pointing towards the ongoing global crisis and the well-being of its staff, alongside a desire to deliver the best possible product for Halo fans, as the biggest factors.

It's something a lot of players had been preparing for, after news broke last year that the creative lead had left the project and a string of disappointing updates across 2020. Ultimately, you can't blame the team, and if it means less crunch during a difficult time and a better game overall, then the delay is absolutely the right move.

However, while delaying Halo might be great for Halo, it is undeniably a disaster for the Xbox Series X. Microsoft currently has disappointed with the games it's announced for the console so far, and Halo was the lynchpin of its launch lineup. With the next Forza still in early production and Gears 6 also a ways off, Infinite was designed to bridge the generation, and give players a killer app in the same way Combat Evolved did for the original Xbox.

Of course that's no longer happening, and it leaves Xbox with little in terms of AAA first-party exclusives to hinge the launch of their next-gen machine on. Their approach has always been that the first few years would see compatibility between Xbox One and the Series X, but now fans have one less reason to pick up the new machine.

The delay won't stop the console though, and Microsoft confirmed the Series X will launch in November.