Jason Schreier: 343 har måtte skære to tredjedele af Halo Infinite-indholdet fra

Man ville kunne argumentere for, at det hele endte meget for godt for 343 Industries og Halo Infinite, ja det synes vi i hvert fald i vores anmeldelse, men det betyder naturligvis ikke, at spillet ikke har haft problemer under udviklingen.

Disse beskriver Jason Schreier i en ny artikel ovre hos Bloomberg, hvor han slår fast at visionen for spillet var ret anderledes i starten. Mere specifikt siger han, at inden sommeren 2019, der var det planen at levere en gigantisk åben verden på linje med The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, men at det blev tydeligt netop i den sommer, at de ikke ville kunne levere på den vision.

"All those factors played a role in the difficulties with Halo Infinite, which the studio began planning in 2015 just after Halo 5, the last full installment of the game, was released. After kicking around various formulas, the developers landed on an idea that stuck: Halo as an "open world" game. Rather than progress through a series of levels, players would explore a giant land mass, completing missions in any order, as they did in Nintendo Co.'s 2017 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is considered one of the greatest games of all time."

Så de skar to tredjedele af indholdet fra, og gik tilbage til den "Wide Linear"-tilgang, som spillet benytter sig af i dag. Schreier noterer dog, at spillet i dag ligner en gedigen succes, som også skyldes at de tillod spillere at stifte bekendtskab med multiplayer igennem tests og en beta.

"The risky decision to slow down seems to have transformed a potential disaster into a real success. In November, 343 surprised fans by releasing a free multiplayer mode of Halo Infinite on the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Halo game. By the next day, the game had set an Xbox record for most concurrent players on the online gaming platform Steam. The full version went on sale Dec. 8 to positive initial reviews. "Halo Infinite can't just be another Halo. It needs to be the Halo that exists in your imagination," wrote CNET reviewer Mark Serrels. "And incredibly, against all odds, it pretty much is."