343 Industries has had a bit of a rough year. After showcasing the Halo: Infinite earlier this year along with revealing that it would be launch title for the Xbox Series X|S, the studio announced just a couple of weeks later that the game would be delayed until sometime in 2021. We later found out that the specific time frame has been narrowed to Fall 2021, but now a new rumor, in regards to the Halo: Infinite Xbox One version being canceled, has been making its way around the internet. 343 Industries Community Manager John Junyszek denied this in tweet, although he later removed it for unknown reasons.
The initial source of this rumor came from someone finding LinkedIn profile of a UI Designer from 343 Industries. In the profile, it states “games in development” where it lists Halo: Infinite and the respective platforms, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Since Microsoft’s previous generation, the Xbox One, was not listed, this was misinterpreted as the studio dropping the console from the main development. This sparked multiple outlets and Twitter accounts to say that the Halo: Infinite Xbox One version was canceled, but in his deleted tweet, Community Manager John Junyszek simply stated “Nope” and quickly shut down this rumor.
This isn’t the first time that the studio was dealing with rumors about their IP. This past Summer they denied rumors that the game was being pushed all the way back to 2022, something that was first and foremost in everyone’s mind after their gameplay showcase. While 343 Industries seems to be holding onto all of the announced versions of the game, behind the scenes have unfortunately been different story. Several key people have left the studio in the past couple of years, with the most recent being Game Director Chris Lee. Hopefully, the studio doesn’t run into any more issues and are able to focus on finishing the game.
Halo: Infinite will launch sometime in 2021 for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.