Halo Infinite’s delay might not have meant much in any other time, but it now means that the Xbox Series X doesn’t have a true centerpiece, which is quite troubling.
Without Master Chief’s first adventure, it’s not clear we’d have the Xbox One or upcoming Series X since Halo made Xbox a legitimate contender in the console space. Halo Infinite was primed to repeat at least some of that success for Microsoft this fall, but a delay that would not have mattered much in any other year has tossed a sticky grenade on the face of the Series X’s launch. It was Microsoft’s biggest gun and without it, Microsoft isn’t poised for a firefight with Sony when both new systems hit the market. Even though its initial reveal at The Game Awards in December was a pleasant surprise, Microsoft has already had a lot to overcome in regards to the Xbox Series X. The aggressively mediocre May showcase, commitment to no true exclusives for at least a year, and Halo Infinite’s polarizing gameplay demo gave the company many different stumbling blocks that it didn’t need coming right off the most clumsy Xbox generation. The Xbox Series X wasn’t shaping up to be an Xbox One-esque fumble and Halo Infinite, despite its underwhelming presentation, was key in counterbalancing a lot of that criticism. But even then, Master Chief’s Spartan armor couldn’t bear all of that weight. Having no true Xbox Series X exclusives meant that it was going to be difficult to buy the console for anyone with a decent PC or a functioning Xbox One. You didn’t have to get the Xbox Series X to play Halo, but the surrounding hype of the console launch would have made that easier to buy into.
