Halo Infinite won’t be at The Game Awards, but 343 is planning a ‘high level update’ soon
Studio hopes to provide more information about the delayed game in the coming weeks
343 Industries has told fans Halo Infinite won’t be shown at December’s The Game Awards.
However, commenting on Reddit, 343 community director Brian Jarrard said the studio is hoping to provide a “high level update” on the delayed game in the coming weeks before “restarting” the journey to release with fans again next year.
Xbox Series X/S launched on November 10 with a line-up missing a new flagship first-party game. That position was meant to be occupied by Halo Infinite before it was delayed to 2021.
“Right now we’re still going through the huge cascade of implications and ramifications to the release shift and the team is heads down working through nearly every facet of the game,” Jarrard said.
“Full disclosure we don’t have anything planned for the VGAs, but are hoping to offer at least a high level update within the next few weeks so we can kind of restart this journey together after the holidays.
“Pulling together something like a demo or big beat for the VGAs is an enormous amount of work and would cause challenges with current milestones of the holidays,” he continued.
“I know it’s hard to wait, but the team is going to make the most of this extra time and we want to make sure we can put our best foot forward and commit to greater transparency and dialog on the road ahead. We’ll get there and get the train going again.”
Development of Halo Infinite has not gone smoothly. It was confirmed last month that 343 Industries partner studio head Chris Lee, who oversaw development of Halo Infinite, had become the latest high-profile departure from the project.
Former creative director Tim Longo left 343 Industries in August 2019, before lead producer Mary Olson departed the studio last October.
Following Halo Infinite’s gameplay reveal in late July, its visual fidelity faced widespread criticism from the media, fans and even big brands, who highlighted issues with both the title’s art direction and the perceived lack of advancement since the last Halo game.
Soon after Microsoft confirmed that Halo Infinite had been delayed to 2021. Following the delay, 343 Industries brought in a pair of experienced hands to help ship the shooter.
Bungie veteran Joseph Staten, who worked on the very first Halo titles, mostly focusing on story and characters, was appointed project lead on Infinite’s campaign mode.
And Pierre Hintze, who was head of publishing for The Master Chief Collection, was assigned to take charge of Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer mode.
Further reading
343 addresses ‘confusion’ over Halo Infinite’s new customisation system and microtransactions
Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently said the lack of new first-party Xbox Series X/S launch titles wasn’t a major concern for Microsoft because demand for the consoles has far outstripped supply.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection‘s free Xbox Series X/S upgrade launches on November 17. The optimised next-gen version will run at 120fps in campaign and multiplayer and up to 4K on Series X.
