Halo Infinite Confirmed to Release on December 8

After months of making do with a Fall 2021 release tag, we finally have a release date for Halo Infinite. Announced during Gamescom 2021’s Opening Night Live with a cinematic trailer, Halo fans can mark December 8 as the official release date for the sixth title in the long-running franchise.

Interestingly enough, this was not the first release date announcement of Halo Infinite we got today.

Before the trailer release at Gamescom, the date appeared on Infinite’s Microsoft Store page and was shared on Twitter by Microsoft leaker Aggioramenti Lumia. The date was further corroborated by The Verge’s Tom Warren and Twitter user HaloDatAPI. The date had also been leaked beforehand by a Taiwanese retailer.

Halo fans will surely be glad to have a specific date to look forward to. Developer 343 Industries had initially planned to release Halo Infinite alongside the Xbox Series X|S consoles in November 2020 but was forced to push the release to Fall 2021 due to challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the pandemic was not the sole reason for the delay, as development on Infinite had been bumpy before that as well. The first look at the game’s campaign was a major disappointment and also led to the birth of the infamous Craig meme.

Subsequently, Bungie veteran Joseph Staten was onboarded as Creative Director to lead development on the game.

Fortunately, devs have turned that sentiment around with the game’s first technical test that concluded earlier this month. While the beta did struggle a bit on old-gen consoles, fans were quite happy with what they saw.

The announcement of the release date comes just after 343 Industries announced that Halo Infinite will launch without campaign co-op and Forge. Co-op should arrive in season two of Halo Infinite, about three months after launch, while Forge, a mode that allows Halo players to customize and share maps, will arrive in season three, around six months after launch.

Microsoft also announced a Halo Infinite-themed Xbox Series X and a companion Xbox Elite controller. Walmart seems to have run out of pre-orders already, but you should keep an eye out if you want to reserve one when it is back in stock.

About Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite is an upcoming first-person shooter game developed by 343 Industries and published by Xbox Game Studios.

It is the sixth entry in the series and serves as a re-imagining of the franchise, with new features, mechanics and gameplay elements. As for the story, it is going to be a direct continuation of Master Chief’s story from Halo 5: Guardians, in his “greatest adventure yet to save humanity!”

The game was originally cited to be released alongside the upcoming Xbox Series consoles but has since been delayed to 2021.