Developers of the upcoming Halo Infinite, 343 Industries, have finally addressed the lack of recent news about the game. Originally slated to release alongside the Xbox Series X/S this holiday season, Halo Infinite was delayed in part due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Since the delay, the only news that has come out regarding the game's status was the departure of Chris Lee, Halo Infinite's third director in a year. However, much like Halo Infinite's status, Lee's departure is still shrouded in mystery, with no concrete reason given. Lee's departure was back at the end of October and, prior to last week, 343 Industries had been quiet throughout.
As the Halo Waypoint website reports, 343 Industries finally gave a comment on the status of Halo Infinite last week. The post, penned by community manager John "Unyshek" Junyszek, first acknowledges the quietness on 343 Industries' end:
"We want nothing more than to answer your questions. We can’t wait to go into deep detail about the rich story and characters in the Halo Infinite campaign...But to do it right and do the game – and the talented team crafting it – justice, we need to show rather than tell. Of course, this begs the question, 'When are you going to show all that?' The best we can say right now is 'when it’s ready.' That’s not the same as 'when it’s done,' but it’s still 'not yet.'"
The next paragraph addresses why this is the case,
"Our marketing and promotions teams have been working for over a year in most cases to ensure Halo Infinite is everywhere possible this holiday to support the game and the Xbox Series X launch. So, when the game shifted out of 2020, the million moving parts across Halo Gear, brand partnerships, marketing, Xbox, legal, retail, and community had to take stock, recalibrate, and readjust."
The update also gives a behind the scenes peek at the making of some of the sound and artwork going into Halo Infinite. The above paragraphs are the first comments about why the public has not heard much about the game's status lately. Previously, the last public comments 343 Industries gave about Halo Infinite were regarding the controversial armor coating system, and that was prior to Lee's departure.
When making large, Triple-A titles like Halo Infinite, there are so many more factors at play outside of just the game's status. As the update points out, various departments and promotional partnerships were also affected and had to readjust. 343 Industries' marketing team had an entire, detailed roadmap of what it wanted to do and when, and that had to be completely redone following the delay. The same goes for the legal department, who advises what the marketing team should and should not say, among other things.
Phil Spencer previously spoke on Lee's departure, and it was here he mentioned that when the public learns something does not always correlate with the timeline of the events actually happening, which would be the case here. Halo Infinite could actually be further along in their development than many believe but, due to marketing and legal, that news would not immediately be made public. Due to this, as of right now, Halo Infinite is slated for a 2021 release, but not much else is known.
Source: Halo Waypoint