Halo Infinite was delayed by a year because 343 wasn't "proud" of it

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Developers were worried about Halo Infinite in mid-2020

Halo Infinite
(Image credit: 343 Industries)

Halo Infinite developers have revealed the game was delayed by a year so they could be "proud" of it.

In a new interview with The Washington Post, several key developers behind Halo Infinite talk about the process of delaying the shooter by more than a year. Bonnie Ross, general manager of developer 343, reveals that soon after campaign gameplay was shown off for the first time in 2019, 343 developers were saying "this isn’t a game we’re going to be proud of," according to Ross.

Some developers even believed that, as early as January 2020, Halo Infinite was behind schedule, thanks in part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Ross' comments reveal that the development team actually asked Xbox boss Phil Spencer to delay Halo Infinite by an entire year, already setting plans in motion for a Fall 2021 launch by late 2020.

Ross talks about how it was an "incredibly painful decision" to delay Halo Infinite out of launching alongside the Xbox Series X and S in late 2020. "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," Ross concludes, adding that the delay allowed them to revisit areas of the game outlined by testers are not living up to the rest of Halo Infinite.

It's a rare and somewhat candid look into the delay of a massive blockbuster game. Halo Infinite was always meant to launch alongside the Xbox Series X as the console's "killer app," but now we know there were doubts this would ever happen nearly a year before the console would eventually launch.

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.