The PC version of Halo Infinite is shaping up to be the best way to experience Master Chief’s next adventure. While the game will also be available on Xbox consoles, developer 343 Industries’ putting extra care into the PC version.
Halo Infinite’s first gameplay reveal was met with near-universal disdain, which resulted in the game getting delayed by almost a year. In the meantime, developer 343 Industries has been hard at work on improving the game. A big chunk of the problem seemed to be Xbox’s stance on making it cross-gen, although that isn’t going away.
In a new blog post over at Xbox Wire, Matt Booty, Head of Xbox Game Studios touched on what features we can expect from Master Chief’s open-world (kinda) adventure on PC.
“We have been working closely with the PC community to ensure that Halo Infinite offers a premier PC experience, including highly desired features such as support for ultrawide and super ultrawide screens, triple key binds, a wide variety of advanced graphics options and more. We want to make sure that Halo is serving the PC community.”
[Update: We now have the first look at in-game settings and screenshots of Halo Infinite’s PC version.]
In addition to the extra features, Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer mode will also include cross-play and cross-progression with Xbox consoles. This means that you can pick up and play the multiplayer mode on PC or console and have your entire progression carry over seamlessly over the cloud. It’s similar to what Xbox has been doing in the console space, bridging the gap between console generations with enhanced backwards compatibility as well as cross-progression, all thanks to the Smart Delivery program.
While this ‘feature’ felt like more marketing jargon for what should be the bare minimum, a quick look over at the PlayStation side shows how hard it can be for developers to support the basic ideas we’ve been enjoying over on PC for so long.
Microsoft has been making strong moves for PC players, giving them almost the same amount of attention as it is for its console user base. With Xbox Game Pass available on both, the Xbox ecosystem now includes Windows 10 as well. The Microsoft store is about to get an overhaul, with new and better features that will make gaming across Windows and Xbox consoles more seamless. But that’s not all, as Xbox Game Studios’ offerings will also be available on Steam for players who don’t want to be tied to a subscription service.
Halo Infinite will release later this year on Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC (via Microsoft Store and Steam) via retail as well as Xbox Game Pass.