I’ve been writing about Microsoft for over 25 years, and not since Longhorn has the software giant bungled a product release this badly. This isn’t just embarrassing, it’s inexcusable.

I’m referring, of course, to Halo Infinite, the blockbuster game title that was supposed to launch alongside the Xbox Series X|S in November, kicking off a new generation of graphical and performance prowess. That didn’t happen, of course. And while it’s reasonable, in general, to argue that no software should ship before it’s ready, it’s just as reasonable, I think, to point out that Microsoft was pretending that Halo Infinite was ready to roll as recently as late July.