There is no such thing as coincidence. At least, that's what many are thinking with the announcement that Halo Infinite, the next main installment in the long-running sci-fi FPS, will be delaying it's launch until sometime in 2021. This comes a couple weeks after the major unveiling of the game as part of Microsoft’s first party presentation where the game was met with a decidedly mixed reception, since then the game has come under fire for it's last-gen quality graphics. 343 Industries (The Microsoft company in charge of producing the Halo games), have admitted “we do have work to do to address some of these areas and raise the level of fidelity and overall presentation for the final game.” However, that is seemingly not the reason.
Despite the fact Halo Infinite was the most anticipated launch game of the next-generation console Xbox Series X (Which is still set to go on sale sometime in November), 343 Industries says the delay is related to the coronavirus pandemic. Due to quarantine, employees have shifted to work from home and development of large games has been difficult. The Last of Us Part II and the new Destiny 2 expansion both suffered such delays earlier this year, having to adjust in the same way. Chris Lee, studio head for the game spoke in detail today about it in the following statement:
“We have made the difficult decision to shift our release to 2021 to ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision. The decision to shift our release is the result of multiple factors that have contributed to development challenges, including the ongoing COVID-related impacts affecting us all this year. I want to acknowledge the hard work from our team at 343 Industries, who have remained committed to making a great game and finding solutions to development challenges. However, it is not sustainable for the well-being of our team or the overall success of the game to ship it this holiday.”
Hopefully, 343 Industries will use this time to fix their game's quality and deliver the best Halo game they can next year. Stay tuned!
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