What you need to know
- 343 Industries Studio Head Chris Lee addressed concerns about Halo Infinite's graphics in an interview.
- Lee commented that the game is a work-in-progress, and that improvements would be made before launch.
- He also mentioned a new audio system that will deliver a sound experience unlike anything before.
During the Xbox Series X July event, 343 Industries showed off Halo Infinite gameplay for the first time. However, while the actual gameplay element of the showing impressed most people, Halo Infinite's graphics were criticized by many for looking underwhelming. In an interview with wccftech, 343 Industries Studio Head Chris Lee addressed these criticisms. Here's what he had to say:
I think for the response on the graphics, the thing I hope is that folks get a chance to check out our 4K streaming assets, I think that really lets our game show itself in full fidelity. We are definitely still very much in development, we have some polishing and tuning that the team is working on to really bring the full potential of our experience to our fans later this year in Halo Infinite. We definitely are excited about the ambition of the title, of this open expansive campaign and we'll make sure that it's polished and ready to go when fans get their hands on it this Holiday.The gameplay demo is a great example of how we're running on Xbox Series X, you'll be able to run at a solid 60 frames per second at up to 4K resolution. We're bringing the highest fidelity experience that we've ever created. We're able to do more than 10 times the processing power per pixel that we were able to do in Halo 5, which just allows us to create this experience that's unlike anything that we've had in Halo before. In Halo Infinite we've really harnessed a lot of advanced rendering techniques, but also the immense power of the Xbox Series X.
In addition to the discussion about graphics, Lee also opened up about Halo Infinite's music, as well as information about a new acoustic audio system. This system will dramatically improve the player's audio experience compared to earlier titles by making it more realistic and immersive.
Music is also incredibly important to Halo and to our fans, and I'm really excited that after Curtis Schweitzer, a composer that we talked about last year at E3, we got to announce our second composer that's joining Curtis, Gareth Coker. Both Gareth and Curtis have been doing an incredible job and throughout the demo today you've been able to experience some of the music that Gareth has worked on. We also upgraded our audio engine to create a new acoustic system and leverage a lot of extra processing power and streaming power with the Xbox Series X to be able to really surround the player in a much more realistic audio experience.
Overall, it sounds like Halo Infinite's visuals will be in a much better state at launch. This is good news, as the quality of the graphics at the gameplay show left a sour taste in many fans' mouths. Ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see.
Halo Infinite is expected to launch during the Holiday 2020 season for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Windows 10 PCs. If you're looking for some analysis, don't miss our article on 5 gameplay details you may have missed from the gameplay reveal.
A new great journey awaits
Halo Infinite is nearly upon us, and it's sure to be an incredible game filled with wonder, adventure, and more.
