The rumors of Halo Infinite being canceled on Xbox One have been denied by 343 Industries following online reports that the game had exclusively moved to Xbox Series X/S and PC development. Halo Infinite had one of the most high-profile delays of 2020, as it was meant to be the strongest Xbox Series X/S launch title.
The initial gameplay footage of Halo Infinite received harsh backlash from fans due to the low quality of its visuals. It's a bad sign when the first impression left by a major game is responded to with memes about how bad the enemies look. The game was subsequently delayed to 2021, and rumors started to circulate that the reason for the poor graphics was due to it being chained to Xbox One's more limited hardware. Microsoft wants the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S lines to be cross-gen for at least a year, which means that future games need to accommodate for the weaker system's capabilities.
There have been many claims online that Halo Infinite will be pushed to 2022 and that the Xbox One port has been canceled, and 343 has openly denied these allegations in the past. Joe Miller pointed out something strange on the LinkedIn account of Halo Infinite UI Art Lead Chad Mirshak, whose Halo Infinite work experience previously only referred to the PC and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game (the entry in question has since added "XB1" to the list of platforms). This was taken by some as confirmation that the Xbox One version of Halo Infinite has been canceled. When prompted by curious fans on Twitter, 343 Community Manager John Junyszek had a simply reply: "Nope."
While they can rest easy for now, fans are right to want transparency about Halo Infinite's development, especially as there have been a lot of behind-the-scenes shake-ups and possible development troubles at 343 Industries. As such, it's often unclear exactly what is true and what are baseless rumors spread on social media. It seems this particular bit of information falls into the latter camp, but it's an option that Microsoft always has on the table if the last-gen version of Halo Infinite is jeopardizing the game's future.
If there's one thing the disastrous Cyberpunk 2077 launch has taught players, it's that a delay (or four) may sometimes be necessary for a game to live up to its potential when managed properly. The cross-gen nature of Halo Infinite has been blamed by many for its troubling early showing, but the last-gen port isn't likely to be canned anytime soon. The Xbox One still has a sizeable install base that hasn't made the jump to Xbox Series X/S, and it seems improbable that Microsoft is ready to leave one of the biggest audiences for the Halo franchise behind.
Halo Infinite will be available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC in 2021.
Source: Joe Miller, LinkedIn, John Junyszek