Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty speaks candidly about Halo Infinite As The Gamer (opens in new tab) discovered, Booty was asked for his take on the game's rough launch on the podcast Friends Per Second (opens in new tab) when asked for his take on the game's rough launch, likening Halo Infinite's launch to "the classic runner's mistake of tripping and stumbling as you cross the finish line."

Halo Infinite has had a tumultuous path since its launch in December 2021. Players have dealt with interruptions in updates (open in new tab), matchmaking glitches (open in new tab), and a lengthy saga surrounding the game's co-op mode, which ultimately led 343 Industries to discontinue split-screen co-op altogether (open in new tab).

This was not the best post-launch roadmap, and Booty tried to explain. The major cause was apparently a pandemic: Booty said that "trying to figure out how to adapt to remote and hybrid work" was like "the worst possible condition for trying to finish a game" with "a big team of a few hundred people."

Booty said that for a game like "Halo Infinite," "planning for content (......) plan for regular ongoing engagement," but this game simply "lacked that plan," he continued.

Still, Booty painted a brighter picture of the game's future. The executive said that Microsoft has "really reorganized" around games and "made some changes in the way the team is set up: we have some leadership changes and we really have to refocus around a sustainable content plan. "343 This year, the company has hired a lead Several key individuals have departed, including the Narrative Designer (open in new tab) and Lead Multiplayer Designer (open in new tab), which may be what Booty means by "leadership changes."

As for the new "sustained content plan," perhaps that is why the game will finally get Forge mode (opens in new tab) tomorrow.

Despite the game's various problems, Booty said it reached a peak of about 20 million players in December, including both PC and console players. We gave "Infinite" a high rating of 78% (open in new tab), stating that "we were one step away from a great game being set back. With a few more updates, we might get a little closer.