At long last, 343 Industries finally unveiled thefirst gameplay footage forHalo Infinitetoday during the Xbox Games Showcase. While there are many changes that seem to be coming for this entry in the series, perhaps the largest comes about with how 343 is viewing it going into the future.
Speaking toIGN, 343’s studio head Chris Lee explained that likely the biggest difference forHalo Infiniteis that the developer isn’t planning to release it as a one-off entry only to then let loose a new installment a few years later. “Halo Infiniteis the start of our platform for the future. We wantInfiniteto grow over time, versus going to those numbered titles and having all that segmentation that we had before,” Lee stated. “It’s really about creatingHalo Infiniteas the start of the next ten years forHaloand then building that as we go with our fans and community.”
As for what some of these new additions toHalo Infinitemight take the form of over the years, Lee declined to reveal too much, but it was confirmed that additional story content will come to the title after launching this year. Furthermore, raytracing is set to come to the game later on in a free update, although specific plans for when this might roll out haven’t been given.
On paper, it sounds as thoughHalo Infiniteis looking at a live service model, but that’s not necessarily the case. The way Lee describes it,Infinitesounds like it could be being approached by 343 in the same manner that they have worked onThe Master Chief Collectionover the years. While originally only launching with the four mainHaloentries associated with the franchise’s protagonist,MCChas since seen numerous updates that have brought about additional games likeHalo Reach,Halo 3: ODST, and new game modes from the past like Firefight. If anything,The Master Chief Collectionhas proven that 343 is capable of improving and iterating on experiences over the long haul and will surely apply the lessons they’ve learned from that remastered collection toInfinite.
Halo Infiniteis set to launch later this year alongside the Xbox Series X platform. It will also be heading to Xbox One and PC, too. And while we have yet to see what multiplayer inthe game looks like just yet, we should start to see more soon.
