On Monday, Microsoft celebrated 20 years of the Xbox and they made sure it was quite a party. During their live stream celebration, Microsoft announced that the multiplayer for the highly anticipated Halo Infinite would be going live in Beta form. All progress in the beta is going to carry over into the actual game when it launches on December 8. Since the multiplayer is going to be free-to-play, this is essentially the actual multiplayer mode launching over two weeks early. The campaign will of course still launch, with a price tag, in December.
“Unfrigginbelievable!”
Play the @Halo Infinite multiplayer beta now. And yes, your progress will carry over on launch day: https://t.co/FhUeWpC15l | #Xbox20 pic.twitter.com/VdRnU0Co99
— Xbox (@Xbox) November 15, 2021
If there was any title that was going to be perfect to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Xbox with it was always going to be Halo. Ever since the original Xbox was released, Halo has been the flagship franchise that has pushed the console. People bought Halo 2 so they could play Xbox Live with their friends. People bought the Xbox 360 so they could continue that experience with Halo 3. Halo Infinite is expected to continue that legacy with the Series X/S.
Halo Infinite is expected to be the title that shakes up the entire franchise. The campaign is going to be an open world, the multiplayer is free-to-play, and Microsoft is clearly putting a lot behind Infinite. This is going to be the title that pushes Microsoft and the Xbox ecosystem right back into the race with Sony as the video game industry’s top developer.