Halo Was A No-Show At Xbox’s Press Conference, But Here’s A Month-Old Infinite Trailer

Xbox’s 2024 Showcase came and went without any mention of Halo Infinite or Halo in general, but the official Halo X account did share a month-old Halo Infinite trailer a day later.

This year’s Xbox Showcase, the first since Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, was without a doubt one to remember, featuring new installments from heavy-hitting franchises like Call of Duty, Doom, Fable, Gears of War, and the reboot of Perfect Dark. What wasn’t shown or mentioned was Halo, the franchise whose lead character, the Master Chief, has long served as a mascot for the Xbox brand and, until Microsoft’s acquisition of Call of Duty, has arguably always been its most recognizable game franchise.

That made Halo’s absence during the showcase even more noticeable. Not even Halo Infinite was mentioned, further solidifying the writing on the wall that the 2021 title, which is not receiving story DLC or future multiplayer seasons, is reaching the end of its life. Developer 343 Industries has said nearly as much, having already publicly said the studio is changing priorities and looking to ramp up development on future Halo projects.

Adding to the oddness surrounding Halo’s absence was the fact that the official Halo X account shared what at first glance seemed like a new trailer for Halo Infinite, not on the day of the showcase, but a day later at the same time as the Ubisoft Forward press conference was taking place. Even stranger was that the trailer wasn’t in fact new, but a month-old trailer that had already been posted to YouTube, highlighting all the various features, improvements, and community-made Forge creations that had come to Halo Infinite in recent months. Many of the replies to the Halo account’s post asked why the trailer wasn’t part of the showcase, while others wished there was more to look forward to in regards to the franchise’s future.

If there is a silver-lining, it’s that there are at least some rumors of future Halo projects. Halo support studio Certain Affinity was long said to have been working on a Halo spin-off, though that has reportedly been canceled. A recent report from The Verge stated a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved is also in the works, but that it’s still in early development and could potentially release on PlayStation 5 as part of Xbox’s new multiplatform strategy, in what would be a strange fate for the series that was once held as Xbox’s most important console exclusive. What the future holds for Master Chief and the Halo franchise is still unclear, but what is clear is that fans are ready to learn what’s next, sooner rather than later.