Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X Can Usher in a New Era for Microsoft in 2021

Microsoft's latest home console, the Xbox Series X, launched to positive reception but unfortunately its flagship game, Halo Infinite, had to be delayed. Although fans were disappointed to have to wait longer to play the game that was initially meant to be the system seller, this setback does not necessarily spell doom and gloom for Halo Infinite, nor the console itself, and could very well be a blessing in disguise.

[Knightofelemia]

I'll believe it when I play it

[Kilua]

"It was the wise decision to ensure that the game all Xbox fans have eyes on, Halo Infinite, kicks off the rollout of new exclusives with a big bang.”

Listen, im not a huge Halo fan (Loved 3 and 4 was pretty good), i'll admit but sometimes we need to be honest with ourselves.

Im not trying to be being negative just because it's Microsoft, and im not saying it will fail - but lately i've noticed these articles about Halo infinite painting it up to be something special. But my question is, what has changed since the last reveal, which was completely panned, and what has changed since the announcement of various devs and leads leaving the project? Has the toxic culture and fragmented development of the game now been sorted? I understand glass of full thinking, but sometimes we need to be honest with outselves and set expectations appropriately. It's almost as if people arent addressing the entire Elephant in the room here. Things were sounding ROUGH in the background just a few weeks ago... im not sure if a delay would be able to fix the issues laid bare for all to see in the reveal.

How far is a year delay going to go to right the wrongs of the initial reveal? It's a tough question for fans, i know, but it ia atill relevant and expectations should be taken within context.

[Kilua]

@Disagrees, care to explain why you dont agree?

[Sitdown]

I'm simply confused on why you thought it made sense to say that your are not a huge Halo fan, and we need to be realistic, and then you launch into the negatives. I've missed the articles about the toxic culture. But going back, as someone who is not a huge Halo fan, would we really expect you to know what gives Halo fans hope? As someone stated, outside of graphics, it looked similar to the Halo formula but now in Open World.

[fr0sty]

One doesn't have to be a fan of a game to be able to spot when its development is in trouble. There's no doubt that Halo's development is facing serious issues. They wouldn't have delayed their flagship title otherwise. All of their first party games are late to the party... they got caught unprepared for this generation.

[Kilua]

"I'm simply confused on why you thought it made sense to say that your are not a huge Halo fan, and we need to be realistic, and then you launch into the negatives."

So im not allowed to give an observation, because im not not an out and out fan? That's a strawman fallacy. Not good enough. I am allowed to give my thoughts on something - at least i let people know where i stand with the franchise.

Besides, i have experience with the franchise, specifically Halo 3, and it was the best one. I played and finished it on legendary so i think i have the right to speak.

If you want to be positive about it, by all means go ahead. If you want to ignore the problems then that is just being delusional. There are problems.

[Ausbo]

I disagree because you made assumptions that infinite’s development has been toxic. We simply don’t have any concrete info to come to that conclusion.

The only issue with that gameplay demo was the awful graphics. That’s something that can easily be fixed in a year and a half time

[fr0sty]

Devs leaving the project is a good indicator of a toxic work environment...

[DJStotty]

@fr0sty

"Devs leaving the project is a good indicator of a toxic work environment..."

Or their work on the project is complete, and they have moved to another? Once a dev's work is complete on a game project, they move on to another, does not mean anything is wrong with development on a project.

If i recall, around 4 staff members have left over the last 2 years. Case in point :-

"According to Payne’s LinkedIn page, he joined 343 Industries in April 2019 on a contract basis. It is currently unclear if the developer departed from 343 Industries because he had finished his work on Halo Infinite or if he left the studio earlier than expected."

Chances are, if you look at any game studio, you will be able to find a few members of staff that have left, even with the likes of Naughty Dog.

[green]

Besides graphics, can you tell us from your analysis of the gameplay reveal last year what you saw that showed a game that would be bad? We know nothing about the story, the gameplay was classic Halo and looked great. So what from the gameplay reveal has led you to this conclusion that a year delay can't fix the problems?

All these stories of things being rough in thr background came from who? Can you point to any credible source to back up your claims?

[Noskypeno]

And the graphics in the multiplayer are already much better than what was shown in July. They confirmed multiple variations of Brutes, some with hair and better animations.

[Teflon02]

@Green
You proved their point. You're ignoring the problems lol

Noskypeno
They confirmed? The same ones who thought releasing that demo for public eyes saying that was a launch game? Like they said, it's until you see it running properly and releases as so, lower the expectations. Sounding like the cyberpunk situation again. In that game the issue wasn't graphics or gameplay, it was everything else

[Kilua]

"Besides graphics, can you tell us from your analysis of the gameplay reveal last year what you saw that showed a game that would be bad?"

1) The first moments of that trailer falls flat on its face imo. The voice actor for the pilot was not very good at all - he was just incessantly mumbling and getting frustrated at chief, whilst chief was just standing there (It was awkward)- im not sure what purposes that character serves but he doesnt seem to fit well. Not a very good sign for his voice acting performance. I don't know, i found that to be jarring but that is just my opinion.

2)The main villian. I mean WTF was going on there? Forget the fact that he looked like an early ps3 character model, the way the camera was panned on his face to try and create this dramatic scene whilst he was giving his speech was the most jarring moment of that entire trailer. That whole scene was just.... wrong.. and bizzare. Once again, just my opinion.

3) The gameplay was the best part of that trailer - but im going to be honest, im not a fan of 343 adding in ADS and sprint. I suppose the grappling hook looked pretty cool (not that original at all though)

4) I dont really need to say anything about the graphics other than it looked like an 8 bit game in most parts of the background, that's how bad it looked at times. 343 have a ton of work to do just to get this department up to scratch alone. And we havent seen any update since so that's all i have to go on.

5) Since the trailer and backlash, 343 have been in a rough situation with devs leaving. You see the studio head come out and provide an update telling people not to worry, that development is going well. A few months later he leaves the studio. We saw leaks of the management reviews and staff dissatisfaction- it all just doesnt sound promising at all when you take into consideration that 343 didnt deliver the full package for Halo 5 (it was a regression from 4, which was a regression from 3)

[jznrpg]

@Kilua the pilot was super cringey. Bad voice acting and bad animation . It seems the worst thing they are trying to do with Halo is make it a GaaS .

[SpineSaw]

@green
Do gamers really pay $500usd plus tax to play "classic" Halo? Pretty much everyone seen Craig and it became a joke..... Ummm still is. The "source" that you need is pretty much every gamer that watched that reveal. The only ones that were good with the reveal of Craig were those that damage control everything Microsoft does and you. No offense though I'm pretty sure its to late for that.
Lets review the lead up to the Craig'errrr Halo reveal. Microsoft reported that the New Halo had a $500 million budget and was built from the ground up on a new most powerful console ever build and then the day they reveal Halo for Xbox Series X..... you get Craig! By all accounts it was a complete epic fail.
Now for the thoes that want "classic Halo" go load up Halo 2 they remaster it every other year should be great by now. I dont Know about you or anyone else but if I'm paying $500 plus tax for a console and who knows how much for Xbox Live and GamePass I need more than Craig.... much, much more. Please don't try and defend Craig just let it go and on release day hope for the best.

[chiefJohn117]

Maybe if you were a halo fan you'd be intouch and know the answers to your questions lol. Halo infinite sounding better and better everyday. I was more mad than anyone about the delay (even got banned for a rant about the delay lol) but after the news I'm 100% happy it was delayed

[Kilua]

"Halo infinite sounding better and better everyday. "

I dont think that is entirely accurate or honest. At all actually.

[chiefJohn117]

Lol true, not literally everyday but I think that goes without saying when someone make that statement. I be forgetting I'm on n4g harder for ppl to catch on here. lol

[SpineSaw]

There's a old saying my fried and I'm gonna pass it on to you and other Halo fans.
"lower your expectations to avoid disappointment".
Now had Microsoft not revealed Craig I'd say dream big but...but, but, but! With the Craig reveal they let the cat outta the bag. Sure a delay was great but sadly Microsoft has a long list of releases that were a broken, bug filled unplayable mess and we have no reason to think Halo Infinite will be any different and to fix that mess they revealed might be asking to much no matter how long they delay it. I think it would be best for Microsoft to only give a release date and nothing more for this game and on release let Halo do the talking and hopefully it'll blow the doors off the gaming world and be the system seller Xbox needs because talking about it further only hurts it more when it can't meet expectations.

[chiefJohn117]

I have no expectations I'm going by what 343 show and tells us. If you don't know or haven't seen the updates oh well. Liking what I've seen and hear.
And Kilua how would you know what's true you're not even part of the community lol that's like me tell someone what's happening with their baseball team when I don't even watch baseball lmao

[Kilua]

"I disagree because you made assumptions that infinite’s development has been toxic. We simply don’t have any concrete info to come to that conclusion."

Dude.. you cant be serious.

https://www.google.com/sear...

https://www.google.com/amp/...

[Atom666]

It's fair to be skeptical, but 2 things:

1. This article merely makes the general point that MS taking more time is hopefully a good sign. Pretty vanilla opinion piece that doesn't warrant whatever it is you're trying to say here.

2. The "bad" aspects you listed out are fairly minor to warrant this kind of reaction.

"8 bit" hyperbole aside, it really just needs lighting, texture, and other final-stage graphics work to look quite nice. If you're not a fan of the art direction, fine. But I'm thrilled they finally realized not all games have to have to focus on realistic grittiness. Bright and light sci fi aethetics, with hard geometrical architecture. I personally like it.

But aside from graphics, your negatives are voice actor of NPC pilot, and some issues with the villain?

Generally for Halo fans, using the Banished as the villain is definitely a positive. Halo 5's story was not good. Halo Wars 2, however, was way better than it had a right to be. Seeing a (non-Atriox) Banished villain was the best news I saw.

There's room for cautious optimism. The problems in its management and producer roles were addressed almost 6 months ago. Some of that news was late to trickle out, but the changes were swift. We won't know if bringing Jason back and moving Hintze up was a success until after launch, but those moves are a positive sign to me for now.

If it sucks, it sucks. But for the moment, I'm more inclined to see the positives than cry doom and gloom all day everyday.

[Kilua]

That's fair, i can agree with that, mostly.

"2. The "bad" aspects you listed out are fairly minor to warrant this kind of reaction." - I dont agree with that at all though.

[utopiancat]

Eh... I don't think a Halo based reskin of Destiny is going to have a lot of pull outside of hardcore xbox fans. I don't think anyone is going to be selling their PS5 to get Halo Infinite. (metaphorically speaking)

[Neonridr]

nobody is asking you to. But if you happen to have a PC along with that PS5 (as in me) then you might be interested enough to pick it up.

[utopiancat]

"nobody is asking you to. But if you happen to have a PC along with that PS5 (as in me) then you might be interested enough to pick it up."

It's not about me.

The discussion is about if Halo is going to "Usher in a New Era for Microsoft in 2021" I am saying no, I don't think so.

[Neonridr]

@utopiancat - but you don't need to sell your PS5, it has nothing to do with that. It's talking about this game finally launching next gen for MS. I am definitely interested in the game, no I won't buy a SX for it. But I have a high end gaming PC, so I will play it there.

[utopiancat]

Do you understand what a metaphor is?

I don't care if you're interested in the game or where your going to play it.

My point is the game isn't going to "Usher in a New Era for Microsoft in 2021" and it's not going to be the reason people choose SX over PS5.

[Neonridr]

@utopiancat - no one game is going to make people choose one platform over the other. Either you like MS games or you like Sony games. That is what will make you choose. Buying hardware for one game is a terrible idea.

[utopiancat]

Neonridr

You are arguing against things I'm not even saying.

I'm not the one saying that "Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X Can Usher in a New Era for Microsoft in 2021" It's the author of the article that made the implications.

If anything you just agreed with me.

[Neonridr]

@utopiancat - I mean it could very well mean it's the start for MS in 2021. Which you can't disagree with. Next gen hasn't really started for them yet, hell it has barely started for Sony at this point. It'll be later this year when we get to see the real games.

[SaveFerris]

Is Usher coming to Halo Infinite?

[JustTheFax]

He will be launching his new single in the Halo-verse

[Minute Man 721]

Recently was playing Reach and IMO the gun fights still holds up....now if they fix/get those assets right

[ProjectVulcan]

The hype train derailed long ago, now you're just on the hope wagon to prayersville

[Flawlessmic]

To be fair they need to give halo a break, or go down the god of war road and effectively reboot it.

Yes halo is still big but not like it was, that last showing was vad and the fact ms though mt it looked great before showing it to the public says a lot.

Ill still end up giving it a go on my XOS, be good to wipe the dust of it, but last one i really enjoyed was halo 3

[Dissidia]

Last one came out 6 years ago, that's a break

Infinite is a effectively a reboot, that's why it's not called Halo 6
https://www.geekwire.com/20...

[mkis007]

5 years... that is just development time for a game this costly.

[Flawlessmic]

Yea but we knew they were working on halo which means no break from halo regardless of the gap it was always coming. I mean break as in no halo in sight and leave it dorment for a while focus on new ips which im sure would give 343 some breathing space to not have live up to the halos of the past.

A reboot of the story maybe, gameplay looks exactly the same, i mean u can sit there and defend it but halo aint got the same pull it used to and the lack lustre showing did nothing to help that.

[franwex]

A break? It’s not COD. Last Halo came out in 2015.

[Charlieboy333]

So the fact that their one and only flagship game looked like crap and had to be delayed a year is a 'blessing in disguise' ? Wow ok.....going by that logic I would agree that the series X is truly the most blessed console

[moriarty1889]

Possibly, if it’s not delayed again. It’s not like they are showing or saying much about it either. For all the money they have spent on this games dev time it’s unreal where this is right now. Starting to bring back bad vibes of the crackdown 3 mess. MS just keeps showing themselves incapable of creating solid new AAA quality first party games. All the money in the world doesn’t do a thing if you keep striking out.

[Z501]

What about last gen versions of Infinite?

[franwex]

You are asking if it will be scrapped?
No word yet. It seems like no. But if they cannot get it to par they just may to not have a Cyberpunk incident.
Basically they are silent on it because Microsoft themselves are not even sure at the moment.

[Z501]

"Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X can usher in a new era for Microsoft"

"What about last gen versions?" Not just the XSX. Being that Infinite is a cross gen game.

[Orchard]

@Z501

Why would Microsoft look to a last gen console to usher in a new era? I don't see Sony looking at PS4 or Nintendo at WiiU to usher in their new era.

[waverider]

Not really. They need a studio that got the talent to do that. After last year reveal its easy to see they dont have. The amount of pressure that 343 got is crazy. This game got a budget of 500 millions! But now how much more they have spent?

[talocaca]

Curious to see how it turns out.....but it is a stretch to say that just because they delayed a game that was clearly not ready, suddenly Microsoft has fixed the many problems that have plagued their first party studios for years.

Mediocre titles (Crackdown 3), Bizarre cancelations (Scalebound), lack of innovation (Gears), unfinished releases (Sea of Thieves), overpromising (the power of the cloud).....the list goes on and on....

It's really sad when Ori seems to be their only flagship new IP to come out of the Xbox One generation.

[Thundercat77]

Bah... I don't think so. The game must first fight to be in a decent state, be good and relevant. Putting all your hopes in 1 game? Believing that 1 game will do a work that must be done through generations and a stable flow a many good games? That's delusional.

This has become the slogan of the Xbox brand... Always waiting until (insert hope here) while in the present moment, never delivering.

[Rainbowcookie]

*can

[Hitman007]

Better Delayed then half baked Cyberpunk which needed at least a year of extra development time

[Orchard]

Exactly. We should praise developers who choose to delay a product to increase its quality. We don't need more Cyberpunks.

[Bender6502]

Halo CE was undoubtedly a genre defining game. All Halo's that followed? Meh. With maybe the exception of Reach. And I still have absolutely no confidence in 343 being able to produce a great Halo game - they haven't so far (opinion,obviously).
The good news however, is with all their new studios MS, won't have to rely on the Halo IP so heavily in the future. I do hope it turns out to be a massive system seller, and a great game to boot, but let's see.

[InUrFoxHole]

Day 1!!!!

[ForwardDude]

By the time Halo Infinte is released, PS5 will have more exclusives than they had a launch ( where Microsoft had none ) and could compete with Metroid Prime 4 or Breath of the Wilds 2 as big AAA Switch exclusives ( or some other surprise exclusive game that Nintendo is known for ). Also, Nvidia will have supplied more GTX 3000 cards to PC players so Halo Infinite will play best on PC day one and forever. The game being on Gamepass mean poor sales compared to other Sony or Nintendo exclusives, but I'm sure Microsoft will release a nice graphics showing how many Gregs was killed since launch.

[rockwhynot]

So long as they keep the squeaky sound fetish out of multiplayer I'm happy.

[spwittbold]

Inb4 Halo Infinite is this gen's Crackdown 3.

[Darkborn]

Still can't wait to see how this game turns out. I honestly want microsoft to hit it right, but I have my doubts. they were fully invested in that trailer and for the launch. They even had advertisements and deals with energy drinks and stuff for the release date last year. Those are huge red flags because that was the only game supposed to release on the series x last year, which means everyone up to grinning good guy oh thought it was amazing. the world thought very differently. microsoft is still out of touch. It's bad when EA Is more in touch with gamers than a console publisher like microsoft.

[zero_jp]

I just don’t believe this at all. Not one bit actually. Here’s the thing that people have got to respect about PlayStation and Sony. They do what is best for the game.

Microsoft and Xbox does what’s best to hit some arbitrary talking point I.E. 120 frames per second. Which is why the graphics in the Halo Infinite reveal were a joke.

It literally looked like a poor mans Doom and that’s insulting to Doom. Only much more boring and a hell of a lot uglier and basic looking. How on earth they thought revealing that dumpster fire was a good idea goes to show how inept their executives are.

Microsoft and Xbox had no business trying to push 120 knowing they couldn’t also have a gorgeous looking game with all of the bells and whistles as well. No one asked for 120 by the way. We asked to do away with 30.

So now guess what? They’re stuck and can only do so much improvement graphically do to the idiotic shoehorning of 120 frames per second for Halo Infinite. It’s bizarre that they’d handcuff themselves and their devs to hit that number.

Anyway just my two pennies.

[Atticus_finch]

Real Halo infinite came out long ago and it's Destiny 2.

[QuePasa87]

Enough talk, time for action

[franwex]

I'll give my 2 cents since I play Halo 5 almost daily with friends.

Now Halo 5's campaign was meh, and the Master Chief Collection took years to fixed their multiplayer.

Am I excited for Halo Infinite? Yes. Why?

Okay. For starters Microsoft resisted the temptation to release an unfinished game and just patch it along the way for a year. The temptation would've been extreme too due to releasing a new console and not having anything to offer gaming wise besides a sub service. So I give them props for that.

Now again-Halo 5's campaign was meh-but it's still a good game. I expect Halo Infinite to get destroyed by it's fans more so than even Sony fanboys (mostly due to fans having a game already in their heads and Halo Infinite not being exactly that game feels like a betrayal). But I still expect it to be a pretty solid game. It will offer a co-op open ended campaign with split screen. Apparently it will be like Halo-Skyrim, so that sounds interesting. Even if it's more like traditional campaigns like Halo 1 or Halo 3 I will be happy. I find those campaigns to be the most fun-even with a lame story. It will have a traditional arena style multiplayer (my favorite thing about the franchise as not many games are made in this fashion anymore-hence why I play Halo 5 so often). A forge mode where whacky and fun game modes are created by users. A free to play mode where if done right could be a good thing such as COD War Zone. Along with other modes such as Fire Fight, Warzone (the Halo 5 mode) and Spartan Ops that could also be included.

Halo games tend to be a solid package and if done right I think it will be a great experience for the players. My expectations are in check of course.

[Ninver]

It won't do anything. It won't even break sales records. Halo has been irrelevant for years.

[Orchard]

Lots of people still play Halo. MCC is great nowadays.

But you are right on one thing - it will not break sales records - because the MP is F2P and the SP is in Game Pass.

But that just furthers the point that sales are not everything nowadays / the sign of a successful product, especially as the industry moves towards being more service oriented.

[curtain_swoosh]

its great to be hopeful, but seeing things for what they are is very healthy sometimes. nothing has changed since it was announced, we havent even seen anything new either, or when the hell it comes out ha. if Halo alone has to "save" anything regarding xbox, well .. thats very sad to be honest.
i feel like this damage control thing, that is going on here at times, is just mind blowing to me.

[CoNn3rB]

Honestly, I haven't been particularly interested in the idea of another Halo game for a while now. Halo 4 was a good effort for a studio taking on the reigns, sure it wasn't the best but it wasn't particularly bad either. I bought an Xbox One to play Halo 5 and the MC collection and they were disappointing to me to say the least. (The Halo Wars series is quite good but they're a bit more niche)

I may pick it up on PC but I'm not buying an Xbox for Halo again until 343 can prove they know how to handle the license and so far I personally find that they are simply unable to.

[Chocoburger]

My gosh, are you really pinning all your hopes onto a single game? You're setting yourself up for disappointment, because you refuse to learn from history.

I loved Halo 1 on Xbox, beat it three times. Its a fun game, that cut corners to meet the launch deadline, but it had a unique feel to it. Halo 2 was alright, Halo 3 was more of the same, Halo ODST I did not enjoy. Haven't played Reach, 4, or 5 yet.

But watching the footage of Halo: Infinite last year was not impressive, not just from visuals, but from a gameplay perspective. It looked like Halo 1 but with a larger game world, and nothing more. 343 Studios is desperately trying to attain the same level of success that Bungie had back in the early Xbox days, and they simply don't have what it takes.

As I said before, you're setting yourself up for disappointment, because you refuse to learn from history. No, Halo: Infinite can not usher in a new era, but you'll fall for the hype, get disappointed, and then fall for the hype with the next Halo game, never learning, never improving, just like this game series.