Xbox Series X will still have an attractive roster despite Halo Infinite’s absence, says Microsoft

Directly in the wake of Halo Inifinite’s delay announcement, Microsoft immediately took their news blog Xbox Wire to reassure potential buyers that the Xbox Series X will not want for games to play at launch.

The announcement cited the ongoing pandemic as a factor in Halo Infinite's delay. It explained the need for "more time to finish the critical work necessary to launch Halo Infinite, which will come in 2021,” according to Xbox Wire Editor-in-Chief Will Tuttle.

“We have plenty to keep you busy until Chief arrives,” Tuttle went on. The blog post claimed that the Xbox Series X would have thousands of games to play – "spanning four generations." Microsoft isn't lying, and the blog post doesn't contain any untruths, but the wording is incredibly deliberate since it's coming off the tail end of a significant delay.

Tuttle then described how there are "50 new games planned for this year across generations and optimized for Xbox Series X," including but not limited to: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Gears Tactics, and, Watch Dogs: Legion. Xbox Game Pass, a subscription-based streaming service that gives players a rotating library of games to choose from, was also highlighted.

Backwards-compatibility is always welcome. Previous console-generations are home to some of the most well-regarded games in the industry. It's a no-brainer that fans will want to revisit their old favorites without having to hold on to redundant hardware.

Still, despite assuring that there will be plenty to choose from once the Xbox Series X is released, the audience response suggests that Microsoft's announcement was tone-deaf, to put it lightly.

"Who wants to pay $500 to play old games (Xbox One games) at launch lmaooo," wrote @TigerCA123 in the announcement’s Twitter thread. “I love Xbox but this is peak Xbox under Phil Spencer,” added @GMurraray93. “You’re not even launching the flagship game with the console? How do you manage to deliver such awful execution on console releases two generations in a row.”

Launch titles are essential for capitalizing on the momentum of new hardware, and Microsoft themselves are well aware of this. Look at Halo 3 – released by original creators Bungie Studios, the synergy between Halo 3 and the Xbox 360's launch was a significant factor in both the game's and console's worldwide success.

With no big-name titles releasing parallel to the Xbox Series X, Microsoft will have a harder time bringing new users to the fold. Especially since many of the latest releases "optimized for Xbox Series X" will also be available on PlayStation 5 and/or PC.

The Xbox Series X will launch sometime in November 2020 alongside Sony’s PlayStation 5.