Halo Infinite is the Biggest Halo Launch in History*

Microsoft announced today that Halo Infinite is the biggest launch in the history of the franchise. But there are two caveats.

“With over 20 million Spartans joining us so far, we’re thrilled to announce that Halo Infinite is the biggest launch in Halo franchise history!” the official Halo account tweeted today. “Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the next step in this great journey.”

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And, sure. Technically, Halo Infinite is the biggest launch in franchise history. But I want to point out two important caveats:

First, Halo Infinite multiplayer is free, and that number includes those players. So many of the people playing this game aren’t even paying for it.

Second, and less problematic, Halo Infinite is the first Halo title to ship simultaneously on more than just a single console version. This title is available across Xbox One and Series X|S, PC, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, the latter of which includes PC, Xbox consoles, the web, Android, iPhone, and iPad. That’s great, but this massive availability clearly had an impact on the numbers too.

To be clear, I’m not complaining. But it was virtually assured that Halo Infinite would be the biggest Halo ever. Microsoft made sure of that with a smart launch strategy.

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Conversation 4 comments

  • Donte

    26 January, 2022 - 8:02 am

    <p>It was also on Steam day one. Many of my PC friends that basically only use steam got it from there and most just play the fee MP game. I do not believe any other version of Halo was on Steam on launch day?</p>

  • blue77star

    26 January, 2022 - 8:21 am

    <p>This game is garbage. Good graphics and all that but they just ruined HALO Universe/Story and game play. First mission was promising and when I realized it is just open world map meant for multiplayer, where you go around and feels like you are in Fortnite…man garbage.</p>

    • Donte

      26 January, 2022 - 11:02 am

      <p>I would say its pretty (nice graphics), relatively bug free, which today is a HUGE compliment in the games industry, but its big time boring. </p><p><br></p><p>I played the campaign all the way through. Every boss/base etc that was on the map I completed. There is probably some hidden stuff I did not get. Anyhow after the first few missions its all the same. Got to the next point, fight the gagle of bad guys, rinse and repeat until you fight the last boss.</p><p><br></p><p>The free to play aspect and forced cross play should be all the indication you need to know that Microsoft is trying to turn Halo into a cash cow like Fortnite or Apex. They want to print money with this. I also bet you see some cross content, like official skins of things from other games, especially ones that have recently bought popping up in Halo MP. COD skins/characters etc…just like in Fortnite.</p>

  • orbsitron

    27 January, 2022 - 3:51 am

    <p>I’m part way through the campaign and have logged many multi-player hours. </p><p><br></p><p>I think Infinite is spectacular!</p><p><br></p><p>What these numbers show is not just that availability and accessibility mean a ton to success potential (obvious but so often overlooked due to previous revenue models appearing safer), but that quality matters. </p><p><br></p><p>The fact that reviews are super high, players are still playing and that Halo is getting much more press/streaming time than CoD: Vanguard, all shows that this game is viewed as high quality by most gamers and most of the industry. </p><p><br></p><p>After fighting The Warden over and over in Halo 5’s tedious campaign, I couldn’t agree with the general consensus more!</p><p><br></p><p>I’m loving Infinite and as a a platform, I can’t wait to see what 343 has in store when additional content (perhaps more story?), including Season 2 of MP, Co-op, Ray Tracing, etc. all drop, hopefully this spring!</p>

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