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Forums - Microsoft - Halo Infinite delayed to 2021

Azzanation on 12 August 2020

I am never a fan of games with deadlines especally launch titles. Forza 5 and KI had this issue.
Its good that now Halo has no real deadline which means they will release when ready.
As long as the Gameplay, Music and Story hold up, the visuals are just the cherry on top for me.



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KLXVER on 12 August 2020

Should just delay the launch of the console. Give it more time to hype it up. I feel like the Series X is just another XB1X at this point. Would also make time for more launch and launch window games.



KLXVER on 12 August 2020
shikamaru317 said:
KLXVER said:
Should just delay the launch of the console. Give it more time to hype it up. I feel like the Series X is just another XB1X at this point. Would also make time for more launch and launch window games.

Delaying the console is completely unnecessary in this case. 

1. Consoles with a Holiday season launch sell great even with no big exclusives, due to casuals buying to play 3rd parties. Also, the most hardcore fans of a particular console maker buy at launch regardless of all other factors. They just need to get Halo out in early 2021 to prevent a long sales slump. 

2. Xbox Series still has 3 console exclusives for launch, CrossFireX, Gears Tactics, and The Medium. They also have next-gen graphical updates for several of their current gen titles planned for launch, including Ori 2, Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, and The Outer Worlds. And they can bundle a 1 month Gamepass code with all Series X and S consoles, which will allow people to play all of the above games for free during that 1 month (except for the CrossFireX campaign, which isn't on Gamepass at release, just the multiplayer). 

3. MS still has marketing deals for several big 3rd party games that release this year, including Madden, AC Valhalla, and Cyberpunk, which they can run ads for during the Holiday season that only mention the Xbox version. They might even still have time to get a Series X bundle ready for one of those games. 

4. They can still price Series X and Series S well, which will help them sell. If they can pull off the rumored $250 on Series S and $450 on Series X, they will definitely have a good Holiday season sales wise, especially on Series S, which will fly off the shelves at $250. 

I just dont see the excitement for the Series X. I think they could play up their exclusives and get them ready for holiday 2021. Make it look like the new shiny thing to get and make the PS5 look old in comparison. Get those exclusives out and announce what the teams are working on next to show people they have lots of games coming as well. 

I dont know. Maybe it wont matter. I just dont see many people outside of the already established fanbase choosing a Series X over the PS5 this holiday season. Sony can just ride on the success of the PS4. MS doesnt have that luxury. They have Game Pass, but the new COD, AC, Fifa, NBA2K and all the big new games wont be available on that or at least not until way after they are the new hot thing. 



jason1637 on 12 August 2020

Hopefully the game is better due to the delay.



Manlytears on 12 August 2020

Great courage to postpone Halo infinite and launch the new XBox without major 1st party exclusives. It was the right decision, this Halo has to make a good impression, or at the very least be released at an acceptable level for such a large franchise.

On the topic of "avoiding overwork", the infamous crunch... i agree with Jason Schreier:

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1293269745580625922?s=20


it's sad, but I believe the team at 343I will face crunch at an extreme level, to have delayed a title so important for the new xbox the problems in the game must be very serious, also Microsoft realy need this game as fast as possible.



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eva01beserk on 12 August 2020
sales2099 said:
eva01beserk said:

What do they have now?

If they smart they ensure Gears Tactics and Flight SIM are there day 1 for Series X. While on PC Series X will appeal to console gamers so I believe those 2 will still make a impact. Also timed exclusives like Medium and CrossfireX. Imo that’s enough against Spiderman MM and Bugsnax. 

I mean Xbox One had a ton of bad things going for it, which Series X doesn’t have itself, and XB1 still managed to sell out at launch. Their exclusives all weren’t mind blowing either. Dead Rising 3 and Forza 5 were good games but not the best in their IP history. Ryse was panned as we know.

So really the launch isn’t ruined. And now 2021 will ensure Xbox momentum when Halo is ready instead of the drop off Xbox One had after launch. 

Launch means nothing as fans will buy out anything on the Holliday. It's line up will influence the after Holliday drop wich could be massive if the line up is bad. 



It takes genuine talent to see greatness in yourself despite your absence of genuine talent.

eva01beserk on 12 August 2020
starcraft said:
eva01beserk said:
This has its good part and bad part. Good for the game as it really needed more time as it looked like a 360 game. Bad for the series x as now the launch will be lackluster. On top they seem to care only for gamepass and the series x was a side thing. Also bad for 343 cuz after 5 years that's what they had. There is a really big problem under the xbox studios and it has nothing to do with them having less studios than Sony. Them buying more to match them seems to only be the bare minimum.

You must have owned a pretty souped-up 360...

Na. Just figured since it looked worse than some of my ps3 games than that's where the 360 should be sitting at. 



It takes genuine talent to see greatness in yourself despite your absence of genuine talent.

Mr Puggsly on 12 August 2020
KLXVER said:
Should just delay the launch of the console. Give it more time to hype it up. I feel like the Series X is just another XB1X at this point. Would also make time for more launch and launch window games.

Boy, what a dumb idea. Especially if you wanna piss off 3rd parties.

1st party studios are already upgrading existing games or creating ports for Series X as well.

We are also hearing some games are being scaled back for last gen, therefore some cross gen titles are evidently being built with Series X and PS5 in mind already.

Not sure when any Series X exclusives are coming, but some may not be far off.



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nosound_warmup on 12 August 2020
shikamaru317 said:

Delaying the console is completely unnecessary in this case. 

1. Consoles with a Holiday season launch sell great even with no big exclusives, due to casuals buying to play 3rd parties. Also, the most hardcore fans of a particular console maker buy at launch regardless of all other factors. They just need to get Halo out in early 2021 to prevent a long sales slump. 

Then why make exclusives for console launches if it doesn't affect the sales?

2. Xbox Series still has 3 console exclusives for launch, CrossFireX, Gears Tactics, and The Medium. They also have the next gen version of Yakuza 7 as a timed exclusive, on PS5 people will only be able to play the PS4 version with lesser graphics through backwards compatibility at launch. They also have next-gen graphical updates for several of their current gen titles planned for launch, including Ori 2, Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, and The Outer Worlds. And they can bundle a 1 month Gamepass code with all Series X and S consoles, which will allow people to play all of the above games for free during that 1 month (except for the CrossFireX campaign, which isn't on Gamepass at release, just the multiplayer). 

Come on! "Oh, yeah, people will surely fork out 400-500$ for new hardware to play some games they already played with slightly better graphics." New games count. They are what draw people to new hardware. Updating older games is icing on the cake.

Why not wait? What do I lose by waiting a little to buy a Series X? Especially in pandemic times where budgets are tight. MS said themselves they would be supporting the Xbox One for several years. 

3. MS still has marketing deals for several big 3rd party games that release this year, including Madden, AC Valhalla, and Cyberpunk, which they can run ads for during the Holiday season that only mention the Xbox version. They might even still have time to get a Series X bundle ready for one of those games. 

4. They can still price Series X and Series S well, which will help them sell. If they can pull off the rumored $250 on Series S and $450 on Series X, they will definitely have a good Holiday season sales wise, especially on Series S, which will fly off the shelves at $250. 

Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that those games are multi platform.

Pricing is their only option. And that will hurt. You might think MS has tons of money so they don't care, but a company always looks at where it should put its money for most return.  



hunter_alien on 12 August 2020

While I think it was a good decision to push the game back (it was obviously not ready to ship in time), one has to wonder how competent are the people at 343i and how well will the launch be managed for the Series X/S. Thus far we are tracking to have a worse release than Xone, and honestly, I don't know how they will manage to get their momentum back.



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