Halo Infinite release date set for December

Just as the leaks suggested earlier today, Halo Infinite's release date was announced during Gamescom 2021's Opening Night Live event. Earlier this month, 343 Industries committed to Halo Infinite's holiday 2021 release window, and it looks like they'll stick to that promise, as Halo Infinite will be here before we enter the new year.

343 Industries' Joseph Staten joined Geoff Keighley on stage today to announce that Halo Infinite will be out on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC on December 8th. This is the same release date that was leaked on the Microsoft Store earlier today, so that leaked date was indeed accurate.

In addition to announcing a release date for Halo Infinite, Staten also showed us a cinematic trailer that serves as our introduction to the first season of Halo Infinite multiplayer. Like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, multiplayer in Halo Infinite will be split up into seasons that will last around three months each, with each season introducing a new battle pass with new cosmetics to unlock.

Unfortunately, not all aspects of Halo Infinite will be going live on December 8th. While we'll be getting the campaign and the free-to-play multiplayer mode on that date – two of the biggest components of any Halo release – 343 confirmed last week that we won't have campaign co-op at launch, nor will we have the Forge editor for multiplayer.

Instead, 343 will look to have campaign co-op in the game with season 2 (three months after release), and Forge with season 3 (six months after release). Halo Infinite has had something of a troubled development history, so here's hoping the delays are over and that December 8th release sticks.