Halo Infinite finally has a release date. After a rocky first showing and year of hard work, Halo Infinite will now launch on December 8, 2021.
That's both the campaign and the multiplayer launching simultaneously, hitting Xbox consoles and PC, as well as being a day-one release for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
The official announcement at Gamescom Opening Night live follows earlier rumours from Twitter user ALumia_Italia. They accurately guessed the release date from a Microsoft Store listing for Halo Infinite’s campaign page that was updated, and showed that the game will be released on December 8, 2021. That's now confirmed.
Surprisingly, Halo Infinite didn’t feature in Microsoft’s Xbox Gamescom livestream, which took place on August 24. It would have made sense for Microsoft to reveal the game’s release date, but an announcement at opening night live gives the game some breathing room.
Along with the announcement of Halo Infinite's rekease date, Microsoft also announced that a new Halo themed Elite Controller, as well as an Xbox Series X console bundle with Halo theming, will release ahead of the game itself on November 15.
Analysis: Halo Infinite’s release date makes sense
With Forza Horizon 5 releasing on November 9 and PlayStation 5’s Horizon: Forbidden West reportedly pushed back to 2022, it makes sense for Microsoft to give its big holiday titles some breathing room.
A release date of December 8 also gives developer 343 Industries a little more wiggle room when it comes to polishing the game and squashing any bugs that may be present, which is always welcome.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer had previously said that Halo Infinite’s release date hasn’t been shared as Microsoft was still finalizing the release timing, and that other games could affect when Halo Infinite would launch. While not specifically mentioned, Spencer will have been referring to the likes of Call of Duty: Vanguard, which we now know will release on November 5, 2021.
Note that the game’s multiplayer mode will be free-to-play for the first time in the series’ history – a move likely to take on the raft of free to play shooters that now dominate the space.
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