E3 season gave fans a glimpse of some of the biggest video games releasing this holiday season and beyond. With only four months before this year's holiday season, fans are starting to get excited to play some of the most highly anticipated titles, two of which are Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite.
Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite are two of the biggest exclusives titles of their respective consoles scheduled to launch this year. Both have been a long time coming and are likely to close out this year with massive sales figures and a positive reception. However, both Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite don't have a release date.
Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite Travel the Same Road
Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite are two completely different games of different genres, targeted to different audiences and platform holders. However, the sheer popularity of both series puts them under the same spotlight. Both companies remain optimistic about launching their respective games this holiday season, though no concrete information has surfaced.
The lack of the reveal of Halo Infinite's release date at Xbox and Bethesda's E3 2021 showcase came as a surprise to many, though Xbox head Phil Spencer has since assured fans that Halo Infinite will indeed release this holiday season. Halo Infinite's release date announcement could be coming soon as Microsoft examines the release timings of other big titles. The holiday season could be a tricky time to release a game, even for highly anticipated titles, and it makes sense that Microsoft would be carefully proceeding with Halo Infinite.
On the other hand, Guerrilla Games has been awfully quiet about Horizon Forbidden West's release date. While the latest State of Play event provided fans with a polished gameplay demonstration, the lack of a release date led to confusion and concern. It could be that just like Microsoft, Sony is looking at the release date of other massive AAA titles for this holiday season before deciding one for its anticipated release. It's no surprise that the holiday season largely uncharted territory for PlayStation first-party exclusives. Aside from launch years, Sony doesn't seem keen on releasing its big first-party exclusives during the holiday season.
All of this puts Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite in a similar position. In a non-pandemic world, it may have been easier to get both next-gen consoles by the holiday season, but given the current state of affairs it seems highly unlikely. The PS5 and Xbox Series X shortage may continue until mid-2022, which makes it all the more important that the release dates of two of the biggest console-selling games of this year are announced as soon as possible so fans can prioritize their gaming hardware purchases this season.
It's unlikely for Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite to launch on the same day, though there's still a possibility of that happening. They would likely want to steer clear of each other so as to not step into each other's spotlight. It would be interesting to see which one of the two's release dates are announced first, and which of the two releases first. Either way, both Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite could end being highly successful titles - critically and commercially. But for that to happen, announcing their release dates and more info is necessary, and the sooner it happens, the more time fans get to make their decisions.
Horizon Forbidden West is in development for PS4 and PS5.
Halo Infinite is in development for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.