Back in July when the Xbox Series X was getting its blowout first-party showcase, a certain flagship shooter franchise was the center of attention. Announced back at E3 2018, Halo Infinite marked the next generation of both Xbox and the Halo series as a whole. A lot of fans felt they got burned by Halo 5 back on the Xbox One because of how different and polarizing it was. Halo Infinite is being poised as the great reboot of the franchise, and was meant to jumpstart the Xbox Series X launch library before it was subsequently delayed to 2021.
Of course, the release date delay certainly hurt the Xbox Series X and 343 Industries, but luckily the fanbase was generally positive and responded with kindness and understanding. It's an unfortunate scenario, especially when a lot of the Xbox Series X/S existing marketing was hinging on Master Chief's return. Halo Infinite is still certainly on the way, and the extra development time will be better for the game's overall release, but it has many wondering when the game's actually coming.
Halo Infinite's Official Release Window
From an official standpoint, Halo Infinite's release date so far hasn't been nailed down by 343 Industries. Since the delay in August, it's been radio silence from Halo's developer, other than an official statement on the delay. Additionally, 343 Industries' founder Bonnie Ross apologized on behalf of the studio as well, thanking the community for understanding the difficult decision. Luckily, the announcement was mostly met with positive reactions despite the unfortunate news. That being said, there hasn't been a new release date announced in any official capacity, only that it's coming out at some point in the very broad 2021 release window.
Back in September, Halo's community director Brian Jarrard stated specifically that a release date had not been decided on yet, and that "anything you see on a retail site is just placeholder/speculation." Other than that, 2021 is all that's currently known in any official capacity for Halo Infinite's release date. However, there's some evidence surrounding the game's development that could hint at when in 2021 Halo Infinite will eventually release.
Theories for Halo Infinite's Release Date
So far, there's two camps of rumors about when Halo Infinite will release: either very soon after the Xbox Series X/S launch (as in February/March), or delayed a full year into holiday 2021. There's a lot of conflicting clues that support both theories, generally from news surrounding the delay and Halo Infinite itself. In the first camp, Phil Spencer recently commented on the potential release of Halo Infinite being split between campaign and multiplayer. 343 Industries has refuted this theory before, stating that multiplayer alone was never the ultimate reason why Halo Infinite was delayed. Either way, it likely wouldn't be for the benefit of the game to release both modes separately.
The other side of the release date theories is that Halo Infinite was delayed a full year into holiday 2021. There's no hardcore evidence that states "holiday" specifically, but recent changes on 343 Industries' development team seem to indicate some major changes could be coming to the game. An anonymous insider for Halo Infinite, Qilin, mentioned that 343 Industries' development team now has plenty more time to hone and refine features that were planned for the game on day one. Additionally, Halo's veteran writer Joseph Staten is re-joining 343 Industries in a leadership role within Halo Infinite's development.
At this moment, it's very possible the holiday 2021 delay could be a more credible theory based on some of this evidence. Bringing on a lead writer to supervise on the game's story and mission structure means the game may not be as close to done as fans originally thought. It does at least lend some credibility to the statements by Qilin, who had mentioned many of the development team's ambitions are now attainable thanks to the extra development time. Xbox certainly took a blow with the loss of Halo Infinite on launch day, but if that's been in service to crafting a much better game experience, then the wait should hopefully be worth it.
Halo Infinite is currently in development for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.