Despite multiple members of staff leaving during the development of Halo Infinite, Xbox head Phil Spencer is not concerned. Halo Infinite was first announced in June this year and was expected to be released as a launch title for the Xbox Series X/S. However, the game has experienced several delays since its announcement and now does not have a concrete release date at all.
As the mascot of Microsoft’s Xbox consoles, the absence of Master Chief on the release of the Xbox Series X/S this week was a disappointment to many fans of the series. This lack of a new Halo game to play was made even more obvious by the fact that it is Master Chief himself who graces the packaging of the new Xbox.
Yet, despite the setbacks, Xbox head Phil Spencer is not concerned about the future of Halo Infinite. This is a bold statement to make, considering the game has lost three of its directors in the run-up to its release. However, talking to GameSpot, Phil Spencer said he actually feels the high staff turnovers at 343 are a good thing, as “… (they) want the people who are really motivated by the things they are working on.” He then goes on to explain how news hitting the press does not necessarily correlate with the timeline of the events actually happening. This is not to say that the Xbox head is being blasé about the shortcomings and fan disappointment surrounding the release of Halo Infinite. Quite the contrary. He admits to GameSpot that having to change the fans’ expectation of the Halo Infinite’s release date from the Xbox Series X/S launch to later, especially so soon after it was first announced, was a “mistake.”
Given the grief that has befallen CD Projekt Red after it was revealed that its employees were having to crunch to get Cyberpunk 2077 released, Microsoft and 343 will be surely wanting to avoid the same negative ramifications of desperately trying to get a game launched under incredible pressure. Given what Phil Spencer has said in the interview, it does sound as though the welfare of the staff at 343 is a priority for the developers, despite what is being portrayed in the news.
Fans of the Halo series, and those who are still excited about the release of Halo Infinite for the Xbox Series X/S in the future, will hopefully find reassurance in Phil Spencer’s confidence. Finger crossed, it will not be too much longer until something more solid is revealed about the release of Halo Infinite, but until then fans can still get their hands on the Master Chief collection to get their Halo fix.
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