Halo Infinite team 'feels good' about holiday release, Phil Spencer assures

Halo Infinite's poorly-received gameplay debut last year saw the instalment moved from a late 2020 release to some unspecified date in 2021. That was later narrowed down to Fall 2021 (Spring in Australia), but since then there's been a lot of online speculation about its exact release date, especially in light of its absence during the recent multiplayer showcase at E3 2021.

But you shouldn't panic, according to Xbox head Phil Spencer. While Microsoft doesn't have an exact release date, it's still very much a 2021 game.

"We know kind of our range in the 3-4 week range,” Spencer said during an interview with Dropped Frames (via IGN). “We don't have the exact day. There's some other things with some other game timing that we're trying to look at. We'll have better clarity over the summer, but this isn't a months thing this is just down to a few weeks."

While the release window is pretty much set in stone, Spencer says setting a specific date now might lead to further disappointment—a new Call of Duty will release this holiday season after all, and Microsoft probably wants to avoid releasing too close to it. "Instead of picking this date and having to move it by a week, which at this point would feel like a fail—we don't want to do that—let's wait until we're really solid on what the date is,” he said, adding that 343 Industries is "very committed to holiday."

While no amount of confirmation from the likes of Spencer and Joseph Staten will put an end to delay anxiety, it's looking like a pretty sure bet Halo Infinite is coming this year. The recent multiplayer showing looked promising enough, especially if you're a fan of old school Halo 3.

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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.