After announcing that Sperasoft — the same team behind Mass Effect: Andromeda’s animations — is helping 343 Industries develop Halo: Infinite, the next-gen game will not release with the Xbox Series X this holiday season as per a new report. Instead, the first-person shooter will make its debut sometime in 2021 due to development challenges.

Halo: Infinite has been a running joke ever since Microsoft and 343 Industries released gameplay footage of said game during the most recent Xbox Games Showcase digital event. Additionally, fans stressed their concerns regarding the next Halo experience as well as the UK branch of Domino’s Pizza due to the game’s low texture quality, pop-ins, and Craig.

Nevertheless, 343 Industries made mention on July 25th, 2020, that criticism isn’t falling on deaf ears and that the team will try to make Halo: Infinite “legendary.”

However, between the ongoing pandemic and development challenges, the team felt that delaying Halo: Infinite would not only help the team out but lead to a better product in the end.

In other words, this means the next Halo game will not launch with the Xbox Series X later this year during the holiday season. Instead, the game following after Halo 5: Guardians will debut next year.

Studio Head at 343 Industries, Chris Lee, came forth on halowaypoint.com to relay the following message:

“Today I want to share an important Halo Infinite development update with the community. We have made the difficult decision to shift our release to 2021 to ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision.

The decision to shift our release is the result of multiple factors that have contributed to development challenges, including the ongoing COVID-related impacts affecting us all this year. I want to acknowledge the hard work from our team at 343 Industries, who have remained committed to making a great game and finding solutions to development challenges. However, it is not sustainable for the well-being of our team or the overall success of the game to ship it this holiday.

We know this will be disappointing to many of you and we all share in that sentiment. The passion and support the community has shown over the years has been incredible and inspiring. We wanted nothing more than to play our game with the community this holiday. The extra time will let us finish the critical work necessary to deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever at the quality we know our fans expect.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Chris Lee

Studio Head, Halo Infinite.”

With all of that said, Halo: Infinite will release next year across PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.