Should 343 Delay Halo Infinite Again?

It was announced during Halo Infinite’s ‘August Dev Update’ that the latest instalment of Master Chief’s escapades through space is still aiming for a ‘Holiday 2021’ launch. Unfortunately for fans of Xbox’s premier franchise, the release of Halo Infinite will be without two major gameplay modes; Co-op for its campaign and the much beloved Forge mode. 

These features are set to arrive via a series of updates tied to Halo Infinite’s three-month-long seasons with Co-Op campaign set to arrive in season two and Forge in season three. This means Halo Infinite, the largest AAA, Xbox Game Studios exclusive priced at $59.99/£54.99, won’t have all of its core features until six whole months after launch. 

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a scenario like this. Capcom’s Street Fighter V launched in 2016 without a variety of features expected for a full priced ($60) fighting game. These features include battle tips, trials, targets and extra battles: All of which were unavailable until either “soon after launch” or in an update sometime in March 2016, a whole month after its February 16th release date (and a third of the time of Halo’s first update). It’s story mode, meanwhile, wouldn’t launch until nearly five months after launch in a July 1st update. The same update also saw the in-game store launch despite it supposedly also coming in March. Important to remember that just because a developer says it’ll arrive at a certain time… doesn’t always mean it will. 

The reason for this hurried launch, while not officially stated, is speculated to be related to the Esports scene and 2016’s “Capcom Pro Tour” Which was set to showcase the new game, including 2016’s “Capcom Cup” In December.  The game was also played at that year’s Evolution Championship Series (EVO) event. 

After its release, Capcom would admit that Street Fighter V had a “lack of content” and “needed more polish”. Despite its rocky start, Street Fighter V has managed to recover partially helped by its subsequent re-releases in the form of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition (2018) and Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (2020). 

A more recent (and infamous) example of this is CD PROJEKT RED’s disastrous launch of its much-anticipated RPG, Cyberpunk 2077. There aren’t enough words to really describe the shockwave this sent through the industry. A game, with years of anticipation fuelling its hype machine only to release and blow up in everyone’s face. Its launch led to a massive wave of backlash against CD PROJEKT RED, with multiple lawsuits being made against the company, with consumers and investors both feeling misled on the game’s state. Xbox offered refunds to people who purchased the game while PlayStation made the decision to delist the game entirely for over six months, a move so monumentally shocking that even mainstream news outlets like The BBC had to report on it. 

Cyberpunk 2077 is a different level of disaster when compared to Street Fighter V though. Street Fighter, while lacking prominent features, at least functioned well. Cyberpunk 2077, to put it politely, wasn’t so functional. The game had (and still has) its fair share of bugs, so many in-fact that a comedic “bug reel”, made by someone at CD PROJEKT RED, was found within leaked source code of the game. This swarm bugs came after numerous delays in its development and the cutting of many features shown off and talked about leading up to the game’s release. 

So, what went wrong with Cyberpunk 2077? Well, according to members of staff at CD PROJEKT RED, they had unrealistic deadlines to meet set by the board, ironic for a company that pushed “ready when it’s ready” so heavily in its marketing. 

Now, here we are. Not even eight months removed from the chaos of last December and we have Halo Infinite; A title set to release to meet a specific deadline (the 20th anniversary) without key features and after a delay. Sounds familiar right? We’ve seen this before and we’ve seen how bad it can be. Not enough of us are starting to see the red flags.  

Let’s start with the deadline. The 20th anniversary of Halo is important to both 343 Industries and Xbox which I can totally understand. It’s a big deal. Is forcing out a release lacking some major and expected features of the franchise really the best way to celebrate this monumental feat? I’d argue no. Halo is a huge franchise with 20 years of games to pull from, including an anthology in the form of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. There are so many better-looking alternatives that still allow you to include the upcoming title. A new trailer, in-game events and giveaways. Just look at how Bethesda is handling the 10th anniversary of Skyrim. There isn’t a new game because you don’t need one to celebrate such a big event. Instead, there are enhancements being made to a previous title (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition) including giving away some content. It doesn’t stop with the game though as Bethesda are also organising a live performance of Skyrim’s soundtrack by the London Symphony Orchestra and a ‘Skyrim Museum’ to showcase off creative works by the fans. 

All great alternatives to keep the celebratory nature of the event high while also letting work continue on their upcoming projects. Halo could easily do the same kind of celebrations while delaying Infinite to continue working on it. 

The biggest argument I’ve seen against a delay is quite simple. “It’s only Co-Op and Forge mode. Who cares?” An infuriating argument as it does have some merit to it while also being incredibly dismissive of a bigger problem. If you are a person paying for Halo Infinite (be it through a Game Pass subscription or for $59.99/£54.99), You are more than likely least interested in the modes of co-op campaign and Forge. Singleplayer campaign and multiplayer are the stars of the show after all. That doesn’t mean that you should suddenly be completely fine when those modes aren’t being given to you straight away, especially when they are staple features of this franchise.  

Another argument I’ve seen levied is often directed at some of Sony’s projects in particular, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. This argument brings up the point of ‘Well, that game also released for $59.99, and only had a campaign? What’s the difference if Halo does it and adds more later?” This point, in theory, works. It’s when you think about it a little more that some of the flaws in that argument come to fruition.  While I, and likely you reading this keep up with the goings on of the gaming industry and its news. A lot of the casual gaming audience don’t. When I’m picking up a box/looking online at a copy of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and seeing that price-tag, I can see what I’m going to get for my money and decide whether or not that is worth it. Come the launch of Halo, unless these marketing materials are changed to be more transparent, people are going to look at Halo Infinite, see what it has to offer and buy it only to not receive what they purchased. This is a huge red flag.  

Halo Infinite was delayed to Fall 2021 (Now Holiday 2021) and is still releasing without all of its expected content. So why ask for another delay? Simply put, to add that content in. If you’re delaying your game, there is an expectation that on its arrival, it will be a complete experience (not including any extra DLC or multiplayer content) to warrant those delays. Sometimes, those delays aren’t enough by themselves and more are needed. This is often met with an uproar as fans are eager to see the release of their most anticipated games so it’s something that game developers are cautious to do. Honestly though, the uproar met after a disappointing release is far worse and that’s something Xbox can’t really afford, especially with *the* flagship game of this new generation. 

This is the most important upcoming release for Xbox as a brand. They have the opportunity to finally move past a disappointing generation with the Xbox One and the forefront of that is Halo Infinite. This is also the first generation where Xbox Game Pass is a major player. Halo Infinite is estimated to see Game Pass reach 30 million subscribers for the service; meaning that this title will be the first real impression on not only Halo and Game Pass but Xbox as a brand for thousands of gamers. New and former fans alike will be coming for Halo Infinite. It needs to land well and a scenario like Street Fighter V (or a Cyberpunk 2077 for that matter) is a disaster. A disaster that could easily be avoided. 

There is a better, much simpler solution staring them right in the face. The Halo Infinite multiplayer. A separate, free-to-play, standalone experience that doesn’t require the full game to play. You don’t need to release the game with only the campaign and nothing else. Just release the multiplayer which, according to them, is ready and use that to celebrate 20 years of Halo. Want to make it feel even more special? Give away free in-game items relating to the history of the franchise and Master Chief. Classic armour styles, unique AI voices. It might sound strange to release even less but it just looks better. You’re releasing a complete (and FREE) standalone experience that players can rejoice over and enjoy while continuing to work on the main game and ensuring the consumer gets a complete and fulfilling experience. 

There is an argument that can be made against this method. There are a lot of people who play Halo just for the campaigns. By only releasing the multiplayer, you’re leaving those fans hanging. This is a fair point to make but you’re then back with the original issue. Releasing a game without most of the content advertised. There isn’t a way to win in this scenario. All options provide their own set of negatives. When it comes down to making an impact and winning over the consumer though, there are only two “good” ways to approach this. One is only releasing the multiplayer to target that audience that will play the most. Similar to the approach of Street Fighter V (which the fighting game community liked at launch), just without its major negative of being a whole game lacking features due to the multiplayer being a standalone experience. Two? Two is just delay all of it and find other ways to celebrate this monumental occasion. Trying to force these features in via crunching workers just to meet a deadline should never be an option, let alone during a global pandemic. Meanwhile, releasing the game without these features feels like it’s going to do little more than generate unnecessary negative PR for the game and Xbox as a whole. Not to mention potentially attaching a stigma to the game that will stick for some time.  

Honestly? I hope I’m wrong. I hope the game launches and all is well and we can just enjoy Halo and wait for the updates. Sadly, we’ve seen this scenario before and after not only the last year for the industry but the entire last generation for Xbox? It’s a big risk. I want to trust that 343 and Xbox know what they’re doing but my fear is that Halo Infinite is going to be what causes another generation of Xbox to begin floundering in the eyes of a jaded consumer, tired of getting burned by the games they want to see thrive.