Halo Infinite – 343 Industries Considered Delaying the Game Again, but Decided Against it

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries recently announced that though the highly anticipated shooter will be launching this year, it will not have campaign co-op and Forge at release, with both modes being added to the game in the months after launch. Series fans haven’t responded to the news very positively, understandably enough, and many have wondered why the game isn’t being delayed altogether so that whenever it does launches, it does so in the best condition possible.

Apparently, that was a discussion that 343 Industries had internally as well. In Halo Infinite’s most recent development update video, head of creative Joseph Staten said that though there were conversations about delaying the game once more so that it could launch with co-op and Forge, 343 ultimately decided against it, instead deciding to use the game’s live service nature as the means to keep adding the missing content in the months following release.

“Yeah, I mean we talked about doing that,” Staten said. “But where we landed was, you know, Halo Infinite is a live game. So it isn’t ever really ‘done.’ You know what I mean? It’s gonna progress and evolve from season to season. We talk about launch being the beginning of that journey, but to have a beginning, you need to pick a moment and actually begin.

“So ultimately we decided, we’ve been working on this game for a really long time, our fans have been waiting for this game for a really long time. With solo campaign and our first season of free-to-play multiplayer in really good shape for Holiday, we didn’t want to delay anymore. Let’s get started, and we’ll continue to evolve from there, season to season.”

As for when Halo Infinite will actually end up launching, well, there’s still no word on that. 343 Industries says it’s definitely coming out this year, and a release date is apparently going to be announced “very soon.” The Xbox Gamescom showcase is scheduled for tomorrow, August 24, so perhaps we’ll learn more about it then.

Meanwhile, it’s also been confirmed that Halo Infinite’s next multiplayer technical preview, whenever it goes live, will also include 4v4 and Big Team Battle. Read more on that through here.