We are only a couple of months away from finally seeing Halo Infinite gameplay. Whilst we at XboxEra continue to be extremely excited for the game, as Halo fans ourselves, we are also incredibly nervous. Halo Infinite isn’t just another Halo game, it is a lot more than that. In many ways, it is a make or break game for THE game that has defined Xbox for two decades. With the launch of the Xbox Series X coming at the same time, Infinite being a success could have a domino effect which leads to a successful generation for Xbox.
Now we’re not the only ones that feel this way. Recently, Ryan McCaffery, fellow Halo Fanboy and Xbox Guru at IGN posted a tweet that expressed similar concerns.
I'd argue that no other Halo has had this kind of pressure (H2 was before social media, and H4 was during 360 glory days), and I certainly can't name another Xbox game that's had this kind of "make or break" feel to it for the IP and the larger first-party/platform reputation.
— Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) May 19, 2020
In our opinion, Ryan has a point. Halo continues to be the face of Xbox. In many ways, their success is tied together. It is no secret that Halo, and Xbox, have both waned in relevancy over the past few years. From the arguably disastrous launch of the Xbox One. for Microsoft this generation was already lost – although the past few years have been extremely promising as we’ve watched the Xbox team right the ship. The build up to the Xbox Series X has mostly been positive, and Xbox seems poised to have a strong generation.
That’s where Halo comes in.
Halo at one point in time was the biggest game in the world. Halo 3, the peak of the series relevancy, broke records and was the talk of the gaming industry. Fast forward to now, after Halo 4 released chasing trends, MCC released in a awfully broken state, and Halo 5 being polarising at best, the series is in a sort of stasis. It is still an incredibly popular series, but it no longer holds the cultural relevance it once did.
Halo Infinite being a success critically and culturally could be the first domino to fall in a successful revitalization of the Halo series and the Xbox brand. If Infinite is another mixed bag like Halo 4 and 5 were, it could lead to an uncertain future for the Halo IP. If Infinite fails to capture the attention of the global audience, it could mean another slow start for Xbox and seriously halt the momentum the brand has been building for years.
What we have seen of Halo Infinite has been promising, although what we have seen has been very little. With 2 months to go, we are very close to finally getting the full unveil of a game that has so much riding on it. I don’t envy 343, but they need to finally deliver on a series they have been working on for close to a decade.
If they succeed, they could revitalize one of gaming’s most storied franchises and usher in a successful generation for Xbox.
If they fail, it could finally send Halo into obscurity and signal bad things to come for Xbox.
No pressure…
While the marketing for Infinite hasn’t quite kicked off, we’ll leave you with our own teaser, hopefully it’ll deliver some hope for you while we all wait for July.
