Halo 343 Delay

We all remember Halo Infinite's infamous gameplay showcase in the summer of 2020. It's safe to say the reveal didn't go down well with fans; the game's graphics were basically turned into a meme. As it turns out, 343 knew Halo Infinite was behind schedule and had to admit that before asking for a delay.

In a huge new feature by The Washington Post, multiple developers at 343 discussed Halo Infinite and all the surrounding controversy. As it turns out, some of the team believed it was behind schedule as early as January 2020, before the pandemic hit.

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Internally, the critical reception of the gameplay footage confirmed what some 343 developers and executives believed as early as January of 2020 — they were behind schedule.

Head of 343 Bonnie Ross acknowledged this sentiment too, saying that 343 devs "were just basically saying, ‘This isn’t a game we’re going to be proud of'". Following this acknowledgment, and the public reveal, the team pushed for a one year delay.

Halo Infinite

That push was successful, of course, but it didn't come easy. Both Microsoft and 343 would have wanted Halo at the launch of the Xbox Series X|S, but it "wasn't the right thing" for the game. Here's what Bonnie Ross told TWP about the delay:

It was so important to us as a team to actually bring Halo back to launch with the console, to kind of bring that whole moment back together [...] And it was an incredibly painful decision because it would’ve been great for the business to be there. It would’ve been great for Halo to be there, but it wasn’t the right thing for ‘Infinite’ and it wasn’t the right thing for the team.

It's clear that 343 cared a lot about Infinite's launch then, despite the rocky first showing in 2020. Still, we think the team can ultimately be proud of what it eventually shipped in 2021.

What do you make of 343's comments? Were you happy with Infinite in the end? Let us know below.

[source washingtonpost.com]