The latest game in the Halo series was released three weeks early to coincide with the franchise’s 20th anniversary.

Halo: Infinite was originally supposed to be released last year, but was delayed until December 2021.

But on Monday, at an Xbox 20th anniversary event, Microsoft revealed that the multiplayer portion of the game would be released on the same day.

The single player campaign is still suspended until December 8th.

Halo was, in its heyday in the mid-2000s, known as much for its online multiplayer as it is for its story-driven campaign.

With the latter game, Microsoft released the multiplayer portion separately as a free-to-play title – a popular business strategy for many online games, but a significant change for the Halo series.

The release was widely celebrated by fans eager to play multiplayer, which was well reviewed in early premieres after a tumultuous development cycle for the game as a whole.

Piers Harding-Rolls, of Ampere Analysis, said the game was already setting records for player numbers on a Microsoft PC game, although there have been complaints that the leveling system is “slow and potentially frustrating.” .

But because it was free, it could be used “as a promotional tool for the launch of the campaign version of the game … and for subscriptions to Microsoft’s subscription service, Game Pass, which will include the premium version of the game at launch. “.

“A sizeable audience along with the full in-game monetization suite being released suggests it also has a strong chance of being the most commercially successful Halo multiplayer ever,” added Harding-Rolls.

The early launch means that Halo is also in direct competition with major November shooters Battlefield 2042 and Call of Duty: Vanguard.

By Steffan Powell, game journalist

Waking up on a casual Tuesday morning to the news that Beyoncé or Taylor Swift have released a new album all of a sudden is a surprise, but not unheard of.

The shadow of a major video game release, however, is not over.

And it’s particularly surprising when it comes to a major franchise like Halo.

The series was used to encourage gamers to choose an Xbox over rivals like the PlayStation – it is Microsoft’s most iconic exclusive franchise and brings nostalgia for many players.

But multiplayer gaming has changed a lot since the release of the previous Halo.

Fortnite and Warzone dominate the free-to-play online market with their “last man standing” battle royale format.

And Microsoft hopes Halo’s unique brand of fast-paced and fluid team deathmatch action, offered for free, will keep players away from titles like that.

In short, there’s a lot going on in this release – and suddenly it’s out in the wild.

If the bet pays off and players love what’s on offer, then the franchise could be returning to its heyday, when Halo 3 dominated the online multiplayer scene.

It could reinvigorate the franchise ahead of the game’s full launch in December.

But if it fails, it could leave Microsoft looking for a new standard-bearer for this generation of its console.

Halo: Infinite has had a troubled development cycle since it was announced in 2018.

The title’s first trailer was unveiled in mid-2020 with a significant backlash from fans over its visual style.

Some thought the graphics were “cartoon” and crude.

In August, developer 343 Industries announced that it would postpone the title to 2021 for the well-being of the staff and “the overall success of the game.”

And that meant the game wasn’t a launch title for the new Xbox console.

Halo games have often been used as a “systems seller” for Xbox, ever since the first title launched with the original console on November 15, 2001.

During the anniversary video stream, Microsoft also showed the first teaser trailer of a live-action Halo TV series from Paramount and a six-part documentary on the creation of the original Xbox.

The company also announced that it was adding more than 70 original Xbox and Xbox 360 games to its compatibility scheme, making them playable on modern versions of the console.