343 Founder Bonnie Ross Apologises For Halo Infinite Delay

It’s a great decision, just release it with Series X optimisations complete with Ray Tracing next year. I really hoped for the second time a Xbox launches with Halo but juggernaut titles like Cyberpunk (which itself will take months to complete all the story branches) and AC Valhalla will keep us busy for the meantime destroying the competition in Digitalfoundry reviews with ultra performance of Series X like usual. It’s actually beneficial for Halo if it releases in a clean time period without other heavyweight titles around to cut some attention.

Sorry, but if you plan a flagship game for a console release, it should be planned to be ready at least 6month before the release of the console, because there is allways something unexpected/problems that will happen.

If your plan was to develop the game until the last minute, then your plan was really bad from the beginning.
I mean they had allready planned to be not feature complete at release with Ray Tracing coming later.

Doesn't look like good planning for me, or they did allready run into some very big problems before covid happen

Halo will shine more without other heavyweight titles outshining it and ray-tracing lighting included 😆.

@BlueOcean
Now it has to be really awesome, anything less will be disappointing

Part of me is cool, Halo should be better for it and more optimised for X.
And with other big third party titles about and there is a good few for November it is probably the best thing to do.
The other part of me thinks how big is Microsoft and the studio etc, this really should of been ready, maybe some poor miss management and project management is in there and that annoys me for a company with such size and money.
Then again I alway said on here they have given a studio far to much to do, with Xbox one and series X cross generations and PC and story mode, co op and online etc.
Manage your studio correctly Microsoft.

@Murray Yes, now they don't have any excuses. Ray-tracing lighting must be included, the campaign and graphics must be polished and multiplayer must be fun.

If it’s not ready is best to delay it. Very poor planning on Xbox side, a red carpet as just been rolled for the PS5 xD at this point I doubt Xbox even catches up to Nintendo

@Hobbesyall Let's wait for pricing but PS5 hasn't got any advantage at the moment: less powerful for third-party games and no big exclusives ready for launch either. Xbox has the best hardware (Series X) the cheapest hardware (Series S), xCloud, Play Anywhere (cross-buy), full and free backwards compatibility, Game Pass and 15 Xbox Game Studios.

I remember reading an article roughly a year ago where an employee of Microsoft stated halo was going to be a "make or break it" for people's careers. I obviously don't have all the pieces but it doesn't look good right now. The long development time with the sub par showing doesn't scream like the leadership at 343i knows what they're doing. I wouldn't be surprised if there is an extreme shake up within that department once infinity comes out.

@BlueOcean consoles sell because of games and Xbox isn’t giving us any reason to get a series X ! They gonna get steamrolled out of the gate and it’s nothing but poor planning Phil dropped the ball :3

I agree about the poor planning and management and also stretching a studio to far with to much to do all at once.
But let’s not forget it’s a 7 year console cycle so a marathon not a sprint. Also the world is not running smoothly at the minute.
Look at Nintendo, not much this year from their in house studios.

Thank god for Ubisoft and Project Red else this November would be really bad.

@Hobbesyall How old/mature are you?

I think a lot of people are going to consider "Cyberpunk" as their holiday present, anyway.

For me, the only thing that retains me to enjoy it day one on the Series X is the promise that a better enhancement update is setting to come later in 2021. So I'm ready to wait that update to begin my journey on this amazing game.

So I think, maybe... "The Medium" is going to be my launch "go-to" game. I really, really liked the gameplay demo that was shown, and it's something that feels "next-gen" to me. But this is, if it is confirmed for the console launch, off course.

That, and discovering in their brand new optimized versions Forza Horizon 4, Ori 2, Gears Tactics and Gears 5 (which I all missed on Xbox One).

@Dezzy70 honsetly i think this is due to the poor reception halo infinite got and the fact that halo 5 looked better....after the reveal someone from 343 said they had time that they would make it look better... ill bet dollars to donuts they decided to do what they can to make it look better...personally F the xbox one just make it for the Series X this is the one thing sony is doing right.

first off owning a xbox 1x i wasnt getting a series X at launch unless its 399.99 reason is theres no point if the games are all on both systems and play together!!!! ill be spending my money on a ps5 at launch due to this strategy as i can wait a year for the xbox.,

@Blessed_Koz
Good point drop Halo for the Xbox one and just go with series x. They have an excuse to do that now. Release Halo next year September 2021 as Series X exclusive.

@BlueOcean my opinion diverges from yours , so you prompt that button xD I see series X down the road that Wii U went in therms of launch. I wish PS had some opposition cause a monopoly is always bad for the consumer, but clearly Xbox is not ready! Again I don’t mean to be rude just putting my opinion out there !

@RedShirtRod I've been a long time critic of 343i, and that is normally aimed at people like Bonnie Ross. There are development teams out there that create fantastic games with just a fraction of the staff, money, and technical support. 343i have had all the backing in the world and they have consistently released poor or broken games.

Had they not been the "stewards" of Halo, they would have died years ago. How MS have left them to continue as they are this long is a miracle.

@RedShirtRod yeah I heard that 343 isn't great at managing their time. I expect the senior leadership at 343 to be changed once this launches if not before. MS has been trying to stay back and let the studios remain independent and just make games for them but clearly 343 needed a bit more oversight. End of day delaying the game was the right call and it's what Phil mentioned early into the pandemic..."no game will hold back the release of the Series X, not even Halo" in pretty sure they knew then that 343 was having issues working from home and they we're tight on time already.

@Hobbesyall

And PlayStation has what at launch? Spider-Man DLC that they will charge you $60 for & they have showed off zero gameplay.

Xbox will get “steamrolled” by that? 🙄

I applaud Microsoft for this decision. 343 shouldn’t have to go through “crunch” or risk their safety with Covid-19 just because a bunch of spoiled & impatient fanboys demand a video game by this holiday.

And those same people would have killed 343 for releasing a game when it wasn’t ready. The outrage about this is ridiculous.

@Hobbesyall I forgive you because of your Ocarina of Time profile picture 😜.

@RedShirtRod @Krzzystuff Although Halo 5 launched in 2015, 343 Industries have been working hard on The Master Chief Collection for Windows, MCC improvements for Xbox One X and Halo Reach MCC remaster for Xbox and Windows. I'm no Halo expert but because they have been given more time to polish Halo Infinite, if it doesn't deliver I'd agree that there's a problem with them.

As a side note, hasn't current Bungie disappointed fans with Destiny and Destiny 2?

@BlueOcean Hahahah thank you, I don’t mean to nitpick but it’s actually Romani from Majoras Mask, from when the aliens tried to sweep the cows xD

@KelticDevil if it’s just that it’s pretty sad yes, I just wanted Xbox to actually come out of the gate storming! It’s saw Nintendo do this mistakes in the past and it costed dearly !!! New Systems need Flagship titles no doubt in my mind xD

@Hobbesyall Oops, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are two of my favourite games. I remember that part, it's like a mini game defending the ranch, part of a side quest to open that area. The game gets really deep when following the timeline of the side quests.

@Hobbesyall

Honestly, I think all companies were hit harder by Covid-19 than they are letting on. Nintendo hasn’t been showing anything. Sony has one 1st party launch “game”. And now Xbox gets the Halo delay.

I think as gamers we just need to be more patient. Xbox fanboys losing their minds over the Halo delay are ridiculous to me. With Game Pass, we have tons of games to play. Free upgrades & backwards compatibility make it even better.

However, with the extra time, 343 better make Halo look and play fantastic when it does launch.

@KelticDevil you are right, I’m a huge Nintendo fan, and they have disappointed me quite a bit this year! We gotta get used to it! I just wish we get back to healthy competitive market and PS doesn’t have a runaway start

@BlueOcean It’s prolly my favorite game ever xD so much subliminal content :3

Better for the game and the franchaise to be delayed than tarnish the IP anymore after the let downs of Halo 4 and 5 campaigns.
However, VERY bad news for the Series X and marketing.
I'm not too fussed as I don't have a beast PC so Cyberpunk on Series X will do me, even if the 'next-gen' patch doesn't roll round til 2021. Will still be the best console version available.

5 plus years and millions spent, then they showed off a mess with everything popping in and low textures. Seriously how many chances does 343 get? And why does everyone love Phil Spencer?
I feel like a serious shakeup is needed at 343 and people need to stop giving Spencer credit until we see some serious output.

@MedaXbot You can criticise 343 Industries but Phil Spencer is one of the best men in the video games industry.

@BlueOcean I'm not saying he is a bad guy but I'd like to know what makes him the best in the biz? Under his watch crackdown 3 was crap, scalebound was canceled, phantom dust remake was canceled, fable legends canceled, halo infinite is the mess it is, f2p games still need gold unlike competitors, even games like ori and cuphead go to switch and in cupheads case even ps4.
I do like game pass though so kudos there.

@MedaXbot He believes in letting developers do their thing but if they mess up more than once I'm sure he'll do something, e.g., Halo Infinite is a mess when it launches. Crackdown 3 is not crap and we have to wait for Halo Infinite, the demo had awful lighting but it looked quite fun. Platinum admitted that they mess development up and they don't blame Microsoft. Fable is back and promising. I had no idea about a Phantom Dust remake.

Remember, Phil Spencer fixed all the wrongs done by Don Mattrick and that wasn't easy. Xbox One S and X are selling well since they were released, Xbox software is on the multiplatform charts and best-seller on PC. It's almost as if Xbox has been resuscitated.