Fans aren’t experiencing the final version of Halo Infinite right now. The sneakiest part of the whole early launch is the clever use of a “beta” label. Halo Infinite is no longer at risk of getting lost in the mix it’s the competition who should be worrying. Now it’ll have to share the spotlight with the biggest shooter of the year - one that’s totally free to play and has the element of surprise behind it. Battlefield 2042 was supposed to be the most high-profile game launching this month (especially after tepid Call of Duty: Vanguard reviews), but Halo Infinite just crashed a Warthog full of banana peels on its clear runway. It’s a bombshell move and one that might tick the competition off. And all of that will happen before people start putting together their holiday wish lists. Players will start posting clips all over social media, it’ll dominate Twitch charts, and media will start kicking out impressions way earlier than planned (ourselves included). While the game isn’t fully out (single-player is still coming in December), the conversation around it is now in full swing. Any critical acclaim would come late, making it hard for Microsoft to capitalize heading into the holidays.īy dropping the multiplayer mode early, Microsoft has rewritten the rules. Ultimate when it dropped in mid-December 2018. Similarly, the game would be ineligible for The Game Awards this year and would be considered for the following year’s show instead, much like what happened to Super Smash Bros. While Digital Trends planned to hold our GOTY decision until we played Halo, others likely would have left it out of contention and saved it for their 2022 lists. December releases also tend to miss the Game of the Year season as many sites publish their lists by the end of November. Getting good word of mouth was going to be a challenge, too. Even if Halo Infinite got positive buzz at launch, it would be late to the party. Battlefield 2042 and Call of Duty: Vanguard would headline sales events, putting those shooters in the spotlight heading into the holidays. A December date meant that the game wouldn’t be out in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when many people buy holiday gifts or hunt for discounted games. Halo Infinite was set to be its big holiday game, but its planned December 8 release date wasn’t ideal. Un-freakin’ believableīefore the surprise drop, Microsoft was in something of an awkward position. It’s the sneakiest power play a video game company has pulled since Sony’s infamous “$299” mic drop at E3 1995. It was one of the original Xbox launch titles back in the day.The decision to drop Halo Infinite early isn’t just a sweet “thank you” to fans for their support. The first Halo title was released 20 years ago on November 15, 2001. There were a bunch of similar hints and near confirmations from plenty of people in the know in the days leading up to today's release. I'm not exactly sure how the whole thing started, but I do know that the rumors also included a bit of a confirmation from a Pringles promotion that also said this release was happening today. Last week, rumors began to circulate that we were going to see an early release of the multiplayer happening today. Today's surprise drop may not have actually come as a surprise at all to some of you. Again, this release is free-to-play while the campaign retails for $60 (USD). Halo Infinite's multiplayer is available right now on PC via Steam or the Microsoft Store, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. This multiplayer was originally slated to release alongside the campaign on December 8, 2021. This release is totally free-to-play for everyone, regardless of whether or not you plan to purchase the story campaign. To close out today's Xbox 20th anniversary event, Microsoft and 343 Industries surprised fans with an early release of the Halo Infinite multiplayer.
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