That Halo Infinite has had bit of a troubled development can be easily inferred by anyone who’s been following the game. On top of a number of leadership changes during the course of development, it also became clear that things weren’t quite shaping up how 343 and Microsoft would have hoped when the game largely underwhelmed on multiple fronts following its gameplay reveal last year, leading to the shooter being delayed from its November 2020 launch by a full year.
Now, an alleged former 343 Industries employee who worked on the game as a skybox artist has spoken about the game’s development in an interview in Mandarin translated over on ResetEra. The developer claims that overly ambitious plans for the game led to 343 Industries having to work on a new engine for the shooter, which led to the studio working on the game and the engine simultaneously, causing troubles. It was because of these troubles, apparently, that the game’s initial gameplay showing was so subpar.
The developer also claims that a number of ideas 343 Industries had for Halo Infinite have been cut across both multiplayer and campaign, and that development has been characterized by crunch for a number of months for a large number of 343 employees. ” I think the finished product will still be great,” the developer says. “The story is a big improvement, and the gameplay is much richer, though the development cycle is too long. Don’t expect it to be an epoch-making masterpiece.”
Of course, the accuracy of a translation done on a forum can be called into doubt, but in a recent tweet, journalist Jason Schreier seemed to suggest that these details aligned with what he knows of Halo Infinite’s development as well.
Halo Infinite is due out later this year – possibly in November – for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC, with 343 Industries looking working on optimizing the game for good performance on all platforms. The developer has said that it has “glorious plans” for the game this Summer, possibly suggesting a blowout at E3 next months.