Halo Infinite, the cross-gen Halo title initially intended as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, still doesn't have a firm release date – other than a vague 2021 window – but it seems like the delay may be a good thing for fans eager to plough into a Halo campaign once again.
Xbox head Phil Spencer has weighed in on the uncertain release date, putting a positive spin on the game's postponement, given the ongoing stock issues for the Xbox Series X.
Speaking on The Verge's Decoder podcast, Spencer spoke about the internal disappointment over Halo Infinite not serving as a launch title for the game, saying that "Absolutely, it’s something that we had planned for [...] to have Halo there. In the long run, I think what’s going to happen is we’re going to get a better Halo game at a good time when people can actually get a console. I feel good about that. I think the game will be better for the time that we’re giving it."
"I feel good, really good, the best I’ve ever felt about our roadmap," Spencer added. "But yeah, it would have been really great to have Halo at launch [...] We thought it would have been a real cultural moment for us as Xbox. Last time we had done that was the original Xbox and Halo: CE."
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Taking stock
With it being very hard to get hold of an Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series X Black Friday deals only really applying to accessories and controllers, there's an upside to Xbox's flagship franchise coming a bit later down the line, when there's an install base to really benefit. There would be some bad feeling, we think, if Halo Infinite became a title that countless gamers wanted to play, but couldn't, because of stock shortages and scalpers buying next-gen consoles en masse.
There is an increasing sense that the true potential of this console generation is still a little while off. In the same podcast appearance, Spencer spoke about the arrival of an Xbox app on today's many smart TVs within the next year – as well as how much Microsoft's purchase of Zenmiax (and, by extension, Bethesda's many game franchises such as Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield) could add to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
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