Halo Infinite - Inside Infinite – December 2020

Joseph Staten: As 343 Day draws to a close, we're excited to offer a closer look at Halo Infinite development and share our updated launch window of Fall 2021.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

This completely disproves the sites that were claiming the game was [probably] launching in spring 2021 as claimed by a no-cap artist. https://n4g.com/news/239045...

[ABizzel1]

A bunch of poorly aged comments in there.

[darthv72]

The waypoint piece is a pretty interesting read.

"Speaking of improvements on the art/content side, one big outcome from our demo was the emergence of the now world-renowned “Craig.” While we and the internet have come to love dear Craig, we know he wasn’t his “best self” back in July. Can you give us any updates on Craig as he stands today?

NH: Firstly, I can confirm that the facial animation on NPCs was not fully implemented in that build, which resulted in Craig’s incredibly deadpan/lifeless look. All characters are modelled in a neutral pose, prior to blendshapes & animation being applied. So, poor old Craig was never intended to be seen in that condition which is not something that was evident during the gameplay. It was only later, in the close-up freeze frame of his one bad moment, where it came to light and the legend of Craig was born.

There’s been further work done on the material fidelity and more variety added for Brute faces, we’re also working to add some hairdos and beards which was something we hadn’t gotten to in July. So, whilst we have come to love our dear old Craig, he’s certainly undergoing a significant makeover.

Craig isn’t the only model to see improvements though, there have been significant changes to other characters & 3D models as we continue to evolve and polish our content, some of which can be seen in the Spartan and weapon renders being shared today."

That must mean that Craig will have a beard like Kratos... "Craigtos". I'm calling it first.

[RememberThe357]

Anyone looking at this reasonably knew this thing needed more time in the oven. At least this is them showing us they heard us and are working. MS needs this game to be a smash far more than it needs it this year. The end of next year is perfect and gives the team the time they need to make it right. Glad to see whoever was trying to push this game out early changed their tune.

[darthv72]

A lot of people were hopeful that spring would be possible but it is what it is. Now maybe they will do something to honor the og xbox and its 20th anniversary.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Fall 2021is also a full year delay, which gives the studio much more time for polish and additional content.

[CaptainHenry916]

It is what it is lol. Halo Infinite has been in development for over 5 years and the demo they showed back in September was awful in its 5 years development to polish everything up and add additional content 😂. If it's taking this long for 343 to develop Halo then something is going on behind closed doors 😬🤐🚪 Maybe the Series X should have launch in Fall 2021 as well. Reality has struck big time

[RgR]

Such an enormous delay usually proves development hell.

Halo is a goner. Bungie should probably take the ip back to save it. I thought 343 were capable with how much I enjoyed halo4 but now I see otherwise.

[Abriael]

That's why you don't trust actors for news on release dates. They usually do not know. They're on a need-to-know basis, and they most definitely don't need to know when a game releases.

[lukasmain]

LOL did you say "NO-cap" on purpose?

If so that's quite funny for some reason

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Simple typo.

[lukasmain]

I'm not sure why but it made me laugh.

[jbull]

So a full years delay and the absolute lies from Phil Spencer that the game would be coming fall 2020 when they showed the subpar gameplay footage over the summer, Xbox fanboys swearing on there mothers lives that it was an old build you even had Digital Foundry make an absolute mockery of themselves trying to say the time of day in the game caused the bad lighting and graphics etc

[Minute Man 721]

The graphics is subpar but the gameplay is Halo

[Atticus_finch]

343 Halo though...

[jbull]

Well when Phil was running his mouth since last year about how Series X is the most powerful console ever and hints from him and Aaron Greenberg that they seen Halo footage and it was gonna blow people away and then boom the absolute humiliation come July when the footage emerges. Clear those 2 clowns lied or seen the footage and thought it would suffice.

[Eamon]

The demo clearly lacked a hell of a lot of polish. Delaying it a year is a good decision. I just hope it only needs 1 year.

I doubt this decision was taken easily. It was a combination of bad reaction the gfx + Covid impact on XSX sales + pressure from Phil himself.

The old Microsoft before Phil Spencer would have most likely launched the game with the console - no ifs, no buts.

[crazyCoconuts]

We didn't see how bad it was. Rumors coming out of the mill were that it was a broken mess developed by a broken team. Probably wasn't even in a releasable state

[jbull]

This the same Phil that has been promising and not delivering for years? He would have seen footage well prior to the event and gave it the approval. It only got delayed because of the fans. Anyway as the saying goes for Xbox "wait till E3"

[DJStotty]

The old Microsoft would have launched Halo Infinite alongside Kinect 2.0, and smiled from ear to ear when they announced the price of the game would be £749.99

[Concertoine]

I dont remember DF saying anything of the sort in their analysis. They said the game had flat lighting and offered 20 minutes of technical reasoning why.

Its always weird when acolytes from either console try to insist DF are biased to any one side. Its pretty evident that they arent, when they arent making sponsored videos.

[jbull]

Doesn't matter about the lighting or the excuse of the sun shining through the valley the textures just look plain average and its even more apparent when Craig the brutes ugly face appears on screen.

[Concertoine]

@jbull

I’m not saying the game looks good lol. It needed the delay.

[DJStotty]

@jbull

All your issues with how the game looked are addressed in the article. They openly admit that the summer showing was below par, un-polished, and most of the assets used were a work in progress as they only intended to showcase sections of the gameplay.

The good thing is, is because of the backlash by fans/jokes by Sony fans, we are going to get a better Halo than was previously intended, so thanks Sony fans, you have done the Halo fanbase a favour.

[IRetrouk]

So they lied then? They said how hard they had worked to polish that section, remember? Now its below par? I smell excuses....

It shouldn't take "sony fans" to get the best out of ms devs, they should want to do that all by themselves.

[NeoGamer232]

Thank you for the completely useless rant.

You dislike XB but what are you afraid of that you have to go into an XB article and try to demean, insult, or whatever XB fans.

I don't know what you anti-XB fans are afraid of. Because the only types of people that go on these kinds of rants are insecure about something.

[jbull]

I tend to buy both consoles, prefer Sony mainly they deliver games but I fear a future without gaming competition. Microsoft with all their money and resources should not have this amateur set up with the Xbox console. How can you defend them for their performance on Xbox one with no decent exclusives and don't get me started on Kinect.

[NeoGamer232]

@jbull
I am just tired of both PS and XB fans slagging the other's new articles. There is being factual and then there is ranting. Yours is a rant.

Yes, XB has made lots of mistakes. I could say the same about Sony for the PS3. You know. Not jumping on MP gaming, PSN would always be free, PS3 would bring 1080p gaming, etc. But drudging the past is not helpful for either company's history.

[DJStotty]

@jbull

Still clinging to the "kinect" chestnut along with the "no decent exclusives" statement?

You Sony fans really need something new, fresh, i thought you were the "innovators"? Sounds a lot like rinse and repeat to me.

[Ausbo]

Get lost fanboy. Game delays aren’t lies told by developers. They are unexpected development troubles that most devs deal with.

[1Victor]

@Ausbo not in this case they(Microsoft top brass ) promise they seen the game and it was mind blowing (their words) and had to delay a game that was meant to be already out because of the backlash promised it would be out by spring only to be found now ITS FALL.
Now tell me what would had happened if it was Sony who did this would you have said the same thing or would you be with pitchforks and torches calling for Sony heads to roll.
If they would had said we are having troubles with the game and will take longer than expected to deliver the best game you deserve, EVERYONE WOULD APPLAUD THEM and gain a little more respect but no they choose the lie cheat and steal moto of old 360 time.
I know I’m going to get a lot of disagree but hey it’s N4Xbox

[porkChop]

Games get delayed all the time after announcing a release date, that doesn't make Phil a liar. Every publisher has had to do the same at some point, including Sony.

[DJStotty]

It was meant to launch in 2020, where did Phil lie?

[jbull]

Yes Xbox had no decent exclusives, if your into racing Forza is class but other than that it's slim pickings. Halo is nowhere near the powerhouse it was, might change in the future though with Bethesda acquisition and Fable etc

[DJStotty]

That literally had nothing to do with what i said, nice deflect though.

"Yes Xbox had no decent exclusives, if your into racing Forza is class"

Make your mind up.

[jbull]

Car games are more of a niche and don't seem to attract the masses when you think back to Gran Turismo 3.

[ABizzel1]

The whole Digital Foundry thing was explaining why the game looked bad, but not a dive into other areas they could improve. He was specifically speaking on the lighting, which everything he said in that regard was completely true.

Lighting can drastically change the look of textures and therefore the overall quality and scenery in a game as the wrong lighting or time of day and literally dull the look of everything, and these are things you can test yourself.

Now why they picked that time of day is far beyond me, as developers that was plain stupid of them.

Now adding Raytracing as shown in the new image they leaked will definitely help, especially if it's global illumination. But there are other areas that need big improvements as well such as overall texture work, foliage, and environmental details. Fix those 4 things and the game will be perfectly fine graphically for an "open level" 4K @ 60fps game.

But this is what happens when you use a toolset that's trying to target Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and multiple PC configurations. It looks like they're developing the game from the bottom up which is never the best way to do cross-platform anything unless it's a mobile game. The game should start from Series X or at least Series S, and scaled-down from there by reducing fps from 60 to 30 for last-gen, and resolution as low as 720p on the Xbox One and One s, and 1080p - 1440p for One X.

[darthv72]

Honestly, MS should have delayed the Series X until 2021 as well. Coincide with the 20th anniversary of the OG Xbox.

[TGGJustin]

They really should've. I've barely used mine at all b/c there is nothing really on it that I can't play on my PS5. There is nothing coming anytime soon either at least announced right now. They were clearly not ready on the software front and should've just held off.

[InUrFoxHole]

Weird... plenty to play. The games look great and play great. If you're talking about exclusives... then I guess miles or souls can't be played on ps4? Neither company has a line up worth bragging about.

[ecchiless]

@in....

so i can play souls on ps4? rly?

[lukasmain]

@ Bads, you need a PS5 console to play the game, so you can remote play it to PS4. Technically, the game is still playing on the PS5 console

[crazyCoconuts]

Agreed. At least then they could have really delivered on the power advantage narrative like they did with the X1X. But who knows which option really sells them more consoles. It's not like the X1X sold that well either

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Tbh, no disrespect, but that's not a good idea from a business perspective. When you look at the sales of the PS5, the lead that Sony would build over MS would be crazy (at least 15 million).

The PS3 releasing a year after the 360 let the 360 gain a strong foothold and gave MS an early advantage.

[chiefJohn117]

No that would be dumb for many reasons

[FallenAngel1984]

They can’t give Sony a year long head start again

[Notellin]

Yeah they should have just stored a couple million consoles in a warehouse for a year and launched later.

/s

[ABizzel1]

They couldn't afford to do that, because it would have caused a massive uproar, and it would have instantly given PlayStation the generation once again. They had to release this year to get their core fans on board ASAP, and to continue the push for GamePass subscriptions.

But at this point is inevitable that the PS5 is more than likely going to outsell Series X&S anyway by a good amount again.

[-Foxtrot]

How could Phil say this was going to be a launch game and was looking great yet now it has a years delay. Seriously and people wonder why some don’t trust him.

I hope they’ve removed the GAAS elements and it’s a more traditional standard Halo game. I just don’t think open world with a small Destiny vibe is a good idea

[Jin_Sakai]

What’s funny is their big hitters for 2021 are yet again more Forza and Halo. The trend never changes.

[Sonyslave3]

You right more halo it not ms fault halo universe is deep and full of untouched material.

Hell they didn't even touch the novels yet but anyway more halo and forza.

Along with 34 studios when the zenimax deal get close early next year.

Capcom or sega might get grab by big daddy Nat.

[chiefJohn117]

How does a 6 year release from the previous a trend? Lol quick to pull stuff out your rare regardless of it makes sense or the truth i see.

[DJStotty]

Forza is not released in 2021

[DJStotty]

Sony with remakes/remasters the trend never changes.

[Neonridr]

clearly it wasn't where they wanted it. At the end of the day this is only going to be a good thing.

[lukasmain]

Yeah Phil has always been a PR bullshit artist

[badz149]

do you remember he also claims he was already playing games on the Series X earlier this year and have been gaming on it for months? I wonder on what xbox had he been playing on back then?

https://gamerant.com/xbox-o...

[rlow1]

You obviously didn't read the whole post. It's nothing like that.

[DJStotty]

Can't really see him saying "The game will release this holiday, but looks crap"

Course he is going to say it looks great lmao, these fanboys seriously need a new direction.

Halo is not GAAS, you do not pay monthly.

"in the video game industry, games as a service (GaaS) represents providing video games or game content on a continuing revenue model, similar to software as a service."

[jznrpg]

I don’t think they will get rid of the GaaS model for Halo. They need content for their subs and more games like this will be coming , episodic stuff, story chapters , seasons , the Netflix model . Not that they won’t have traditional games , but they are going to be lmultiplat or lesser if they are exclusive to Xbox

[TGGJustin]

This is exactly why you don't listen to a mo-cap actor on when a game is coming out. They would never have that information. I said all along this game was late next year at best. Don't be surprised if it slips to 2022. I've also seen some idiots blaming COVID. Like this game has been in the works for 5 years now and going on 6. COVID had little to do with it for most that time. Some people really are just plain stupid.

[Minute Man 721]

Recreating assets is a pain in the a$$

[moriarty1889]

so Fall it is.....

[CrimsonWing69]

So, what other exclusives does MS have from now to then? Like I’m legit asking, not trying to be a douche.

[Tacoboto]

There aren't any, really... Flight Sim and other PC games might make their way console-side

[Petebloodyonion]

I'm not surprised by the Fall 2021 since MS is pretty quiet this year (the lack of Marketing from Microsoft regarding Serie X and S is telling).
So I would not be surprised if Microsoft tries to create a relaunch event next Fall to promote the console with a Halo Infinite bundle (and this time with lots of Tv ads and marketing).
Just remember that Phil Spencer mentioned how Holiday next year was more important to them since all the current next-gen consoles were already sold out.

But doing so could also damage the reputation of Xbox if nothing catchy is released until then (especially if Sony releases a game like Ratchet and Clank in Spring).

Or perhaps Ms will have some shocking news like major acquisitions or deals related to Gamepass.

But back to Halo, it's still a good decision to delay the game so it can be the best experience as possible.

[Tacoboto]

Is anybody going to talk about the update, or just complain about Phil and whatever else gets complained about in every other Xbox post?

On topic - the multiplayer screens and weapon renders look much much better, shinier, and detailed than the plastic-looking crap from the July demo. They touch on everything that was complained about with the graphics, art, and details. They address time-of-day lighting and adding contrast, fog, atmosphere - exactly things Digital Foundry highlighted were poor. They talk about mp customization in real detail finally.

It's great to know they've heard the complaints and are [finally] transparently talking about it. Hopefully the year wait will be for something.

[RickRoland]

Boy I hope they get Forza out before Fall 2021 or Microsoft is going to spend the next 11 months just talking. Sony fanboys will feast on this

[badz149]

more importantly, Sony will feast on this considering the number of releases they already prepared for 2021 alone. it will be so one sided next year at this rate and it's going to be last gen all over again.

how did MS even allow this to happen? they even announced both the SX and Halo Infinite before Sony even said anything about the PS5 and yet they are soi far behind in terms of games developed for the new gen. what were they even thinking?

now you know why the only talking they were doing before launch was about BC and GP. those were literally the only thing they had for launch! what a disaster.

[jznrpg]

I don’t know how MS thought this lineup was even ok . I’m shocked they didn’t even try to get a 3rd party game , even Godfall would be better than nothing . It’s an ok game at least . I really believed MS was saving all of their games they didn’t release from last generation for launch of Series X . I thought maybe I’ll need to consider getting the Xbox if they launch with a great lineup since they didn’t release much at all these last 3-4 years on XB1. I’m shocked they don’t have one good game to release until March (that’s when Medium is supposed release right? It looks interesting to me) I’m not an xbox fan anymore since they released Kinect and started the neglect of games but I did think that was going to change at least for the launch of their new console .

[Fraggle1987]

So what the hell big game does the series x have to play for a whole year?

[badz149]

best place to play

[chiefJohn117]

I'm so freaking hyped after the recent info. But damn that delay tho, the wait will be hard but just get it right 343i.

[isarai]

I'm just waiting for the cringetastic way they emphasize that they fixed craigs face 😂

[chiefJohn117]

Summary
Game release fall 2021

Armor coating are premium skin variations that allow more customization than any previous Halo has had. Things like gloves are now customizable and armor will have a variety of color coordination schemes.

Campaign is capitalizing on the sense of exploring previous halos had but to the extreme max. You will have a primary storyline objective but will be tempted to go off the path by things like sentinels passing by like in previous games but unlike before following them leads to something more. Along with stranded Marines, and enemies gatherings. Giving the game a lot of replay ability

Game has a more classic art style to further give you that Halo 2000 vibe but now with tech advances to give you more exploration, detail and live out more of your imagination.

MP has a dynamic time of day cycle
No Loot boxes
Hard to achieve armor can no longer be gain by lesser means and reaching milestones is more rewarding with unique armor tied to the achievement.

[jznrpg]

I think the “classic art style” is to cover for the fact the Xbox S is a weak machine and it can’t handle anything more

[chiefJohn117]

You must not play halo. Art style is the design not graphics, Jackles have their bird like look again instead of the dinosaur look they had in 5 and 4. Armor design is closer to mark 2 than mark 4, etc. So you don't know what your talking about. Many wanted them to go back to the classic art style and ways. Which I do prefer but I wanted them to keep some of the new art style for some stuff.

[rlow1]

It was a good read and it sounds like Halo is back on track and in good hands with Jason on board.

[BlaqMagiq1]

This better be the killer app the Series X needs otherwise this will be a huge stain on the franchise and the platform. Sony coming out with heavy hitters next year.

[jznrpg]

That’s putting too much on Halo . Since Bungie left it isn’t the big franchise it once was . It’s still a good franchise but MS really needs something new and fresh . If the rumors of the Initiative game being episodic then that’s not be it . What I’m hoping for Halo is that it’s not a GaaS model . I’d like to play the campaign but if they are going to stretch it out for years I won’t bother .

[franwex]

So everyone who guessed that it would be delayed by at least 1 year gets a cookie then.

I’m thinking that they will probably even scrap the xbone version too at this point.

[jznrpg]

From what they revealed March seemed to soon . I thought mid to late summer would be the soonest

[waverider]

I even have doubts that the game can launch on fall of 2021. Huge doubts. The game was sub-par in every single aspect. its not just one thing. It was everything. That will take much time...

[DJStotty]

Nice in-detail information about the progression of the development.

Glad this got delayed to deliver us a great Halo, take your time 343, your fanbase can wait 12 months, make sure it's right.

[badz149]

yeah...if only they had not wasted their time on MCC or the live action series which is nowhere to be seen and wasted 5 years of development time and $500mil at that too...

[DJStotty]

MCC needed a lot of work as when it launched it was a mess so glad they eventually got it sorted.

I completely forgot about the live action series lol (which says a lot). I think they did release a film of sorts, was it called Forward Unto Dawn or something like that? Sure i remember watching something on Waypoint.

[KinoFan]

I'm glad 343 delayed the game. Take the time to get it right, there's plenty of great games to play in the meantime.

[CoNn3rB]

It makes you wonder, if the game requires another year of development to finish what state was it in when they were advertising a November 2020 release window

[Knushwood Butt]

Wait 'till Fall 2021!

[GreenDragonCVR]

Its totally awesome how they only realized they had a year of work left to do after being memed. And how they open wide and swallow the humiliation (yea I'm sure you love Craig, phil).

[Automatic79]

Glad 343 taking the time to polish and create the best game possible.

[waverider]

Polish wasnt the problem of the game, because the trailer shown Was very fair from polish state...

[neomahi]

Further shows how out of touch Microsoft is with gamers. They're businessmen, not gamers. In a way, they're lucky they'd shown the game when they did. When they showed it thru had every intention of still hitting their Xbox Series X launch date, it was their release to sell their new console. Once everyone finally griped and complained about the game THEN Microsoft woke up, they obviously had no clue before they had even shown the game. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Microsoft's experience in the gaming world, it goes to show they know Jack SHIT about how to manage a gaming console, and they've been doing this for how long? How long has Xbox been around? Well, PlayStation and Nintendo have been around longer and it certainly shows. This is how Microsoft has to find success, always pissing people off and then trying to fix it afterward, can't they just do it right from the beginning, because they know how? The Xbox Series X gaming reveal was the same problem: "Whoops, let's try it again" after all the whohah from Aaron Greenberg. They have no clue, no wonder Sony's killing them, and what's worse is they don't care. A boy was hired to do a man's job and people are perfectly okay with their mediocrity because like the American that only buys Chevy, Harley, and watches baseball, "But Microsoft is an American company!" Yeah, a completely incompetent company. Ah brother.....

[Chris12]

Belittling Xbox fans is uncalled for. Having different tastes to you does not make you superior in your childish console war.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Joseph Staten is a fantastic writer and will do Halo justice...I believe that. The renders look very good.

[chiefJohn117]

Beautiful, I was pissed at the delay but after the renders....it looks worth it.

[ocelot07]

I knew the game looks pretty bad a few months ago. But it's just of been in a right mess to be delayed by a year.