Microsoft announced at E3 2019 that 343 Studio’s upcoming Halo Infinite would be a major launch title for the Xbox Scarlett when it releases during the Holiday 2020 period – but it’ll still be arriving on Xbox One for any fans without the funds to upgrade consoles right away.
While some might have been a little concerned that Halo Infinite on Xbox One would fall by the wayside as Microsoft and 343 put more time and effort into the next-gen version of the game, Halo Franchise Director Frank O’Connor was quick to reassure fans that won’t be the case.
Speaking to YouTuber Blackmist523 at the Halo Outpost event in Orlando last month, O’Connor clarified that ““Xbox One is not going to be a second-class citizen” when it comes to Halo Infinite, and that the game will still “look incredible” on the current-gen machine, even if Xbox Scarlett is being treated as the “special citizen.”
He said:
Obviously the special citizen [for Halo Infinite] will be Scarlett, and we’ve worked with that hardware team to make sure the game shows up amazingly on it… but it will [also] be for Xbox One and it will look incredible. The Xbox One is not going to be a second-class citizen. We’re building it so it plays and looks fantastic on Xbox One, and then everything else is plus-plus-plus, but we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves that we’re thinking about.
Halo Infinite will also launch on PC the same date it arrives on consoles. O’Connor noted that whether you get the best experience from Halo Infinite on PC or Scarlett depends entirely on your rig by the time the game releases.
If you’re confident your PC has better Specs than Scarlett, then it’s an easy decision I would imagine, though based on the confirmed specs for Microsoft’s new console so far, Scarlett does sound like an absolute powerhouse – we learned at E3 2019 that it’ll be “four times” more powerful than the Xbox One X, which is currently the most powerful home console available.
The next generation is already shaping up to be a pretty exciting time. In addition to Halo Infinite, developer Techland recently confirmed that Dying Light 2 would release on current and next-gen machines, and it’s also been heavily rumoured (though unconfirmed) that Cyberpunk 2077 will follow suit.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.