When it comes to the launch of the Xbox Series X, players seem to be disappointed with the lack of first party titles to dive into. Despite great reviews for the hardware itself and games like Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Tetris Effect: Connected, Xbox has had a hard time making a firm impression on players following Halo Infinite's delay to fall 2021. And while players seem glad that 343 Industries is taking its time to make the latest entry a smash hit for the series, some have begun wondering if the dev should cancel the Xbox One version of the game.
This concern seems to primarily come from the divisive launch of CD Projekt Red's newest game, Cyberpunk 2077. While the sci-fi RPG has its fill of bugs, the game's performance has been incredibly poor particularly on the PS4 and Xbox One. In fact, CD Projekt Red recently released a statement apologizing for not showing the current-gen version of the game to allow players to make a more informed decision.
It's Cyberpunk's performance on Xbox One that also has players nervous about Halo Infinite's release on the same console. The sixth entry in the mainline Halo franchise received quite a bit of backlash following its gameplay reveal back in July of this year. In an effort to ease players' fears, 343 Industries has addressed the controversy multiple times since that reveal, and has promised that the graphics will be improved before Halo Infinite launches.
However, it's not just graphical fidelity that has players concerned for Halo Infinite on Xbox One. One of the primary complaints players have had about Cyberpunk 2077 has been the inclusion of major and sometimes game-breaking bugs. Granted, it appears that some of these have been fixed with patches since the game's launch last Thursday, but reports of crashes have continued to flood social media even after said patches.
While it's hard to say whether or not Halo Infinite will actually be held back by "old hardware," it's worth pointing out that several games have been released in 2020 that have had no issues running smoothly on Xbox One or PS4. It's hard to make the argument that Cyberpunk shouldn't be experienced on a PS4 in the same year that Ghost of Tsushima released and took home The Game Award for Best Art Direction. And with titles like Yakuza: Like a Dragon releasing on Xbox One and having little to no glaring performance issues reported, it appears this onus of "hardware from 2013 holding back new games" is on CD Projekt Red, not on the console manufacturers.
Halo Infinite is projected to launch in Fall 2021 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.