I was very disappointed by the news of the delay simply because the wait has already been so painfully long. I've been on board with Infinite since the reveal which showed tons of promise in its subtleties and after the gameplay reveal, they were definitely delivering on those promises. But it was also apparent the game was not in the state it needed to be given the launch window. So while Halo: Infinite was going to be the cherry on top of the diarrhea milkshake that is 2020 for me, delaying the game was clearly the right move and speaks to how much 343 cares about Halo.
It's a shame people don't give 343 Industries enough credit, given the impossible task they were given of continuing a massive and iconic franchise. I never once doubted their good intentions in all of their missteps, and for what it's worth, Halo 4 was not only a solid entry, but an incredible game despite its flaws. But what I appreciate and respect the most about 343, is how receptive they are to the community.
People sure love to blame 343 for Halo 5's direction, but if I'm remembering correctly, ever since the reveal of Halo 4, fans were b*tching for more stories in the Halo universe about other characters because "Master Chief's story is already over." 343 was only being receptive to that complaint by introducing "The Avengers of Halo" into Halo 5 and admittedly deviating from The Reclaimer Trilogy that was started in Halo 4 so that they can expand it into a saga featuring Locke and friends.
Luckily, the backlash Halo 5 got showed us that only a small yet stupid vocal minority were the only ones asking for less Master Chief, and in response, 343 assures us Halo will always be about Master Chief from now on and now we have another Master Chief-centric story with Halo: Infinite, with classic Halo art direction and music.
I applaud 343 for this kind of transparency and willingness to comply with the community because with Bungie out of the picture, Halo belongs to the fans just as much as it belongs to 343 now. And let's be honest, given how certain properties have been treated in recent times, 343 could be doing a lot worse, like Disney with Star Wars. No one else could have honestly done any better.
Not to mention, the Bungie era of Halo wasn't exactly flawless either, but people love to put on their rose tinted glasses for those games looking back, when the general attitude was a lot different when Halo 2, 3, and Reach first launched.
As for the Series X, I was sold on it since day one and even without Halo: Infinite as a launch title, it's still the much better value in terms of what the console itself is offering. As a huge Spider-Man fan, an expansion starring a lesser Spider-Man isn't exactly going to make me rush over to the PS5 on day one, especially when the original Spider-Man on PS4 wasn't even all that it was cracked up to be.
I have a huge backlog of games, some of which I'm holding off on so that I can specifically play them on the Series X, like Red Dead Redemption II, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Jedi: Fallen Order, Control, and Borderlands 3 to name a few. If these games are gonna benefit from the faster processing and more powerful hardware, then that's worth more to me than playing a Spider-Man DLC on day one. There will be plenty to hold me over on the Series X until Halo: Infinite.
