Recent times have not been kind to Halo Infinite, 343 Industries, or Microsoft. What was supposed to be the Xbox Series X biggest launch title was met with harsh criticism following its gameplay reveal and, not too long afterwards, it was announced that it would have to be delayed until 2021.
While the delay can only benefit Halo Infinite in the long-run, it does appear to highlight how troubled its development has been. And a recent report from Thurrott has covered the numerous problems the team at 343 have had to deal with since development began in 2015.
Possibly the most surprising contributor is the still-in-development Halo TV series, which an industry insider claims has often distracted 343 and taken priority over work on the game. Given how much involvement 343 likely has with the show’s production, this wouldn’t be too surprising, but it should be noted that this is but a claim and not confirmed information.
The report further explains that one major contributing factor is that a good portion of the game is being outsourced to third-party contractors. This itself isn’t too strange and is common practice for a lot of games, but the coordination between these multiple companies has apparently not been the best, with development being described as challenging.
This is probably best highlighted with how the engineering and marketing departments have, supposedly, very conflicting viewpoints on how things should be handled. For example, not long before the delay was announced, it was confirmed that the game’s multiplayer would be free and run at 120fps.
This was a decision made by the marketing team, despite engineering insisting that things be held back. After all, what would be the point in generating pre-release excitement if the game wasn’t going to be releasing on time anyway? Further proof of this disparity can be found from the fact that the Monster Energy promotion is still going ahead in spite of the delay.
On top of that, Halo Infinite is being built with an entirely new game engine, the Slip Space Engine. Having to create the engine as well as the game has most definitely had a sizable impact, alongside the current COVID-19 pandemic and the game’s original creative director, Tim Longo, choosing to leave the company in August 2019.
The report also mentions that the possibility of shipping the game in pieces wasn’t a recent idea and had been discussed as early as the beginning of this year or even towards the end of 2019. However, Phil Spencer did confirm that this would not be the case.
In related news, Halo 3: ODST‘s beta has become available on PC and Xbox One for select users, which means that everyone else will be able to play it in a few weeks.
Halo Infinite is in development for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Thurrott
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