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Halo Infinite finally has a release date

8th December 2021.

A year late and without a number of key features, Halo Infinite will finally arrive for PC and Xbox on 8th December.

Microsoft is due to make the news official tonight, as part of Gamescom's Opening Night Live Show, but it slipped out a little early thanks to a scrubbed Microsoft Store listing which The Verge has subsequently verified.

(Apologies to all those waiting until the end of last night's Xbox Gamescom livestream.)

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Halo Infinite was, of course, originally due to arrive last year as the flagship launch title for Xbox Series X/S. But a rough showing last summer prompted a risky rethink - and the game was shifted back a full 12 months.

When Halo Infinite does arrive, it will also lack campaign co-op and the series' popular Forge mode. Both will now follow post-launch.

Campaign co-op won't hit the shooter until season two at the earliest, which means about three months after launch. User creation tool Forge, meanwhile, won't hit the game until season three at the earliest - or about six months after launch.

"Our number one priority is making sure that whatever we ship, whenever we ship it, it needs the right quality bar, across all platforms," 343 Industries' Joseph Staten said last week.

"And when we looked at these two experiences - Campaign co-op and Forge - we made the determination they're just not ready. And as a studio, we don't want to ship things if they're not ready, so people can play them, have fun and have a nice stable performant experience."

Look out for more on Halo Infinite tonight.