Halo Infinite campaign launch trailer prepares us for all-out war
Even though Halo Infinite's multiplayer has been out for a couple of weeks, we're still awaiting the arrival of the game's campaign. We're about a week away from the launch of Halo Infinite's campaign, but that isn't stopping 343 Industries and Microsoft from whetting appetites with a launch trailer today. If you're a fan of the Halo campaigns of the past, then you'll definitely want to give this trailer a look.
Master Chief takes on The Banished
As we've known for quite some time already, in Halo Infinite, Master Chief will be going toe-to-toe with The Banished, a Covenant splinter group that ultimately rebelled against their old allies. The launch trailer for Halo Infinite's campaign gets us right into the details: The Banished are planning to fire a new ring called Zeta Halo and Master Chief has to stop them.
This, of course, means there will be plenty of fighting, and we know that Halo Infinite is going to have at least a semi-open world, which is something of a departure for the Halo series. While previous entries have had huge maps with secret weapons and collectibles dotted throughout them, they've also been linear in their design.
With Halo Infinite, that all changes – at least somewhat. While on Zeta Halo, Master Chief will be able to capture forward operating bases held by The Banished, and we get to see a glimpse of some of those base assaults in this trailer. While the trailer doesn't give too much away – at least compared to what we already know – those who are trying to go into it as unspoiled as possible may still want to give it a pass for now.
Microsoft tries a different strategy with Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite represents a pretty big departure for the series and for Microsoft, which have both followed a fairly consistent structure throughout the years. We've already told you how Halo Infinite is changing from a design perspective, but it'll be a lot different from previous games from a monetization perspective as well.
For all previous releases in the Halo series, multiplayer and the campaign were both parts of the same purchase. $60 (or whatever the game cost at the time) granted you access to both, but that won't be the case for Halo Infinite. Halo Infinite's multiplayer is free-to-play and is already available.
That means the campaign will be sold separately for $60, so we'll soon find out just how much value Halo players put on the campaign. With no multiplayer included to hook players into buying, the campaign needs to stand on its own from a value standpoint if Microsoft is looking to sell copies. That could explain why 343 and Microsoft decided to make Halo Infinite's campaign semi-open world, a decision that suggests it'll be broader in scope (and perhaps even in replayability) than previous campaigns.
Of course, Halo Infinite's campaign will also be available through Xbox Game Pass, which means that it doesn't necessarily have to sell copies a ton of copies at $60 to be counted as a success in Microsoft's eyes. In any case, we'll find out if the value is there soon enough, as Halo Infinite's campaign launches on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on December 8th.