Imagine for years toiling away on a game. Iteration gives way to iteration, and gradually you begin to feel a sense of pride in what you are accomplishing. It’s not done just yet, but it is getting there. Then your bosses come to you and tell you they’re going to showcase your progress. A lump surges upward in your throat, but you’re confident in what you’ve achieved at this point. Halo Infinite is ready to show off to the public.

Then your bosses decide to show off a build from January that lacks a lot of textural fidelity and has issues with rendering. Oh yeah, and it looks worse than Halo 3, a game that released 13 years ago.

At a certain point, you have to acknowledge Microsoft keeps getting in its own way. First, they announce a gameplay livestream with very little gameplay. Then at the moment when they could capitalize on Sony’s failings, they have a conference with games, but no information on those games. Worse and completely absurd at this point, they decided to show off a build of Halo: Infinite from January, according to Alanah Pearce and Aaron Greenberg.

Rather than just admitting the texture work just isn’t where it needs to be in the build, we’ve got their marketing manager telling you to watch the same content in 4k. As if upping the resolution will fix missing textures.

“It’s very hard to show the full power and graphic fidelity of what Xbox Series X will be able to deliver for you over a stream. So go back and look at it in 4K and 60FPS. The only thing I’ll just say is, it’s a work-in-progress. So, what’re seeing today, and I can tell you because we see check-in builds every week, and they made progress week after week. Between now and Holiday, it’s just going to get better and better.”

Instead of seeing the Brutes without their hair texture at 1080, you can watch how bad it looks in 4k. That is not a good marketing strategy or statement. What should be happening right now is 343 should show in progress screenshots of the same level and enemies—showcasing how good they look in the current iteration of the game.

Something Microsoft probably should get on immediately, as 343 Industries has an abysmal reputation among the Halo community. This is especially important as other sources are claiming the build is, in fact, current, meaning the AI, bad graphics, and lackluster combat are the current state of the game.

The Xbox Series X can survive Halo: Infinite being another mess, the question is, can 343?