Microsoft Studios boss Matt Booty has discussed Halo Infinite‘s launch, saying the launch was akin to a runner coming across the finish line and then tripping and falling down.
“The classic runner’s mistake of tripping and stumbling as you come across the finish line. We’ve got to recover there. The burden is on us,” he said.
Speaking on the Friends Per Second podcast (featuring GameSpot’s own Lucy James), Booty said Halo Infinite had a great start, reaching 20 million players and setting records out of the gate. Booty said finishing Halo Infinite during the pandemic represented a worst-case scenario with hundreds of developers working across the world remotely to finish a big AAA title.
While Halo Infinite’s multiplayer had a strong launch, interest and engagement quickly fell off, due in part to a lack of exciting content.
“These days, with a game like Halo Infinite, shipping the game is just the beginning. There has got to be a plan for content sustain; there has got to be a plan for regular continuing engagement. And we just fell short of the plan on that,” Booty said.
In response to this, Booty said the developers at 343 have “retrenched” and came up with a new setup to help deliver content in an effective way. The studio previously said it would need to slow down updates for Halo Infinite so it could get back up and running properly in the future, and this seems to be what Booty is alluding to. Booty also talked about the leadership changes at 343 as an example of how the team is setting out to make Halo Infinite the game is needs to be for fans.
“Thank you to the players for sticking with us through this. We know there is way more demand and there is so much more we could be delivering,” Booty said. “That is our focus right now… on quality of life for the game and getting on a regular cadence of content, getting back to that.”
Halo Infinite’s next big update, The Winter Update, will arrive on November 8 with some major changes and improvements, as well as new features like campaign co-op and Forge. This will be Halo Infinite’s biggest update ever.
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