Update: After a leak earlier today indicated Halo Infinite (opens in new tab) would be arriving on PC and Xbox on December 8, Infinite creative director Joseph Staten confirmed the news during Gamescom's Opening Night Live.
Halo Infinite is coming on December 8, 2021.
Original story below.
Halo Infinite (opens in new tab)'s release date may have just been leaked. If it's true, we'll still be seeing it in 2021, though a little later than some were hoping.
Despite a surprising lack of news about a release date during the Xbox Gamescom presentation this week, it looks like the Microsoft Store may have potentially dropped the launch date for Halo Infinite earlier than intended. Microsoft leaker Aggioramenti Lumia (opens in new tab) shared a screenshot of the game's store page, which shows a release date of December 8 this year. This was then further corroborated by The Verge editor Tom Warren (opens in new tab) and Twitter user HaloDotAPI (opens in new tab).
The same release date also seems to have surfaced on a Taiwanese online retailer, with Idle Sloth sharing a screenshot (opens in new tab) on Twitter. Strangely, this one claims that The Forge will be available at launch, despite 343 Industries previously announcing that it wouldn't be coming until after the game launched (opens in new tab).
Scoop: Halo Infinite (Campaign) | Release Date December 8 https://t.co/5iO4pjLCjA pic.twitter.com/b7efdHp5tmAugust 25, 2021
It's worth noting that the public Microsoft Store page still shows the placeholder date of December 31, 2021. The page being pulled by Lumia is a private API specifically for Halo Infinite's campaign mode.
Speculation was rife that 343 Industries would release the game around mid-November. With November 15 being the 20th anniversary of the series, it made sense as a likely release date. While this date is a little later than some may be expecting, it's only a few weeks off what people were already anticipating.
Of course, even with corroborations, it's always worth taking these things with a pinch of salt until it's confirmed by Microsoft and 343 Industries publicly. As we've seen a lot this year, delays are plentiful and frequent and we may very well see the December 8 date change again before an official announcement is made.
