HALO INFINITE
Since our last Community Update, which had a pretty in-depth Halo Infinite Q&A; section, we've made two pretty massive announcements, squashed some rumors, and released more songs from the Halo Infinite soundtrack. We'll touch on those and share a little more news in the section below.
2021
Diving right into the thick of it, I did want to address the most important announcement we've made recently. As a team, we've made the difficult decision to shift Halo Infinite's release to 2021. To read our full statement about this change in timing, you can do so here on Waypoint or on Twitter below.
Free To Play
Another big announcement we made, which is actually a huge win for all Halo fans, is that Halo Infinite's multiplayer will indeed be free-to-play (Xbox Live Gold will still be required on console but not on PC). To say that again, yes, multiplayer will be free-to-play in Halo Infinite! Now, Halo truly is for everyone.
Soundtrack
After debuting our campaign demo, we wanted to introduce each of the three composers working on Halo Infinite's soundtrack, and did so by sharing one song per blog so that everyone had a chance to have a listen. We've heard overwhelming praise for the composers and their approach to crafting a score that feels like Halo.
In case you missed it, here's a list that you may want to keep handy!
Trusted Sources
Over the past two weeks we've seen the internet fabricate numerous stories and fake "leaks" that have made people, including me, scratch their heads. From rumors of dropping support for the Xbox One to releasing the game in 2022, there seem to be new headlines popping up every day. As we get closer to sharing more and more news, please only trust statements that are made by official Halo channels, members of our studio leadership, or members of the Community Team.
Helping HANDS
As the team focuses on hitting our new launch window for the game, two Halo veterans have offered their helping hands. Pierre Hintze, the Head of our Publishing Team (MCC), will be joining the Halo Infinite team as a project lead for our Free-To-Play experience. He and his team have demonstrated an amazing ability to deliver new content, an excellent flighting program, and substantive updates across MCC over the past year. We look forward to having his expertise directly on the Halo Infinite team as we look to deliver a quality Free-To-Play multiplayer experience for everyone.
And last, but certainly not least, we’re excited to announce that our old friend Joseph Staten will be returning home to Halo for a bit. After helping launch Tell Me Why this week, he'll be coming on board as project lead for campaign as we push towards our 2021 release. The team has been working hard realizing our vision for campaign and we’re happy to have Joseph’s help to get it to the finish line.
For those of you who don’t know Joseph Staten, he wore many hats while working at Bungie for all of their Halo titles and even Destiny before joining the Xbox Games Studios family in 2014. If you enjoy Halo’s storylines, characters, and overall universe, he’s definitely one of the key people you have to thank. As product lead on Halo Infinite, however, Joseph will be focused on supporting the campaign team’s existing, talented, creative leaders and ensuring they have everything they need to create an awesome Halo game. His return to the franchise excites me and we’re all looking forward to having him on board!