Halo Infinite may not be coming to Xbox One after all. According to a𝓡 Microsoft Insider on the ResetEra message boards, Microsoft is considering delaying the game until 2022 due to significant performance issues.
Two weeks ago, developers that Halo Infinite 🍸is being delayed until 2021. At the time, the developers explained that multiple factors contributed to the decision, but only specifically mentions Covid-19 related c𓃲omplications that have impacted their ability to work efficiently.
Before the delay, Halo Infinite was scheduled to release along side the Xbox Serie🍰s X, Microsoft's upcoming next-gen console. This Halo delay cause quite a bit of speculation that the Series X itself would also be delayed, but l🌳uckily, Microsoft confirmed that the new Xbox will still be available this year (though we don't know when, or for how much).
It was clear from the gameplay trailer that premiered during the most recent Xbox games showcase that Halo Infinite was still in a fairly unpolished state. The trailer was bereft with pop-ins, glitches, and flat character m🏅odels, causing worry and speculations among fans.Xbox Marketing GM Aaron Greenburg explained that the footage of the game seen in the trailer was "preliminary," but also defended the art as a stylistic choice.
Last night, a Microsoft in༒sider called sponger wrote in a ResetEra message board that Microsoft is𝓰 considering delay the game until 2022 and possibly cutting the Xbox One version altogether. According to sponger, the current Xbox One version of Halo Infinite is running well below 1080p (lower than 900p) and is having major issues loading assets. To fix the problem, sponger says, the developers are considering fundamental changes to the engine, making ray-tracing default, and improving performance by increasing making more processes CPU bound.
These major alternations would naturally exclude the Xbox One from the development plan. If all this is ♎true, it would appear as though developing the game for both Xbox One and Xbox Series X has led to a version of the game that doesn't work well on either one. Microsoft has committed to several more years of Xbox One support, with Halo Infinite being the first major example of that, but now it see♕ms that that is a process easier said than done. It's possible that developing for the Series X is so fundamentally different from developing for the Xbox One that it may be difficult for games to exist on both platforms.
As of nowﷺ, the studio is still planning to release Halo Infinite on Xbox One and Xbox 𒀰Series X sometime in 2021.