To say that Microsoft has been on a roll is an understatement. The company shook the video game industry to its core when they announced that they had acquired Activision Blizzard for an insane $68.7 billion. Now the tech giant has revealed another amazing milestone for one of their endeavors, Halo Infinite. The developer, 343 Industries, has announced via Twitter that roughly 20 million players joined the newest entry in the series, which according to them makes Halo Infinite the greatest Halo launch in the entire franchise.
There are several factors that made this achievement possible. First, and perhaps most importantly, the multiplayer is completely free-to-play, making arguably the most popular aspect of the entire franchise available to every player out there. Second, the campaign part of the game is also available in the Xbox Games Pass, essentially making the entire package a steal for those who use the subscription service. It also helps that the Xbox Games Pass has more than 25 million subscribers, which means that those 25 million more than likely gave the game a chance.
Another major factor is that the game is also on Steam, the world’s largest PC digital retailer, making it accessible to a much wider audience than the usual Halo fan base. The numbers show that Microsoft and 343 Industries released this game in the best possible way. In the process, they were able to bring in a plethora of new players and more importantly, a plethora of new subscribers. Either way you look at it, the Halo franchise has returned in full force, and we expect those player numbers to increase exponentially over the next year.
Halo Infinite is available now for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/Series S, and PC through Steam and Windows. It’s also on the Xbox Game Pass.