[Polygon] Halo Infinite’s live service plan ‘fell short,’ Xbox Games Studios boss says

[Gizmo_Duck]

Halo Infinite’s live service plan ‘fell short,’ Xbox Games Studios boss says

Matt Booty compared game’s launch to ‘stumbling at the finish line’

www.polygon.com

Booty described Halo Infinite's launch as a "classic runner's mistake of tripping and stumbling as you come across the finish line." He blames this failure primarily on the pandemic and how it disrupted the development team, which consists of hundreds of people around the world — all working on Halo Infinite. So while he gives kudos to the team for getting the game out at all in 2021, he knows players are frustrated by what could've been.

"Shipping a game is just the beginning," said Booty. "There's got to be a plan for content." Post-launch content is something Halo Infinite has really struggled with over the past year. Campaign co-op, split-screen co-op, and the Forge map editor all missed the game's launch window. Online campaign co-op only recently came to Halo Infinite, with the studio ultimately canceling the split-screen mode — a staple of the Halo series.

The campaign and Forge frustrations have been one thing, but Halo Infinite's multiplayer updates have also been few and far between. The game has excellent bones — which landed it high on Polygon's 2021 Game of the Year list — but without new and exciting content to keep players logging in, it doesn't stand much of a chance at staying relevant in 2022 and beyond.

But that's something Booty is hoping to fix. "The burden is on us," he said. The executive went on to call out some key leadership changeups and team moves that will make updating the game easier as they go.

 

[levitate]

It’s what they do.

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

Xbox with a rare moment of clarity

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Xbox with a rare moment of clarity

They’ve been pretty honest lately. Maybe they want to come off as downtrodden and humble to CMA that got them bent over right now

 

[Bryan Danielson]

Xbox should buy Naughty Dog

 

[ALonelyDad]

The leaders at Microsoft tried to rush it due to no games and it backfired. Funny thing is most ppl like the core gameplay, it’s just everything else that is a complete mess