Microsoft may yet end up shipping Halo Infinite campaign and multiplayer separately

It sounds like Microsoft is keeping an open mind when it comes to Halo Infinite's release structure.

Halo Infinite, which was supposed to be Microsoft's big first-party launch game for Xbox Series X, ended up getting delayed, leaving Microsoft's line-up this November devoid of new first-party games.

Reports about the state of development that lead to that decision in the first place are plentiful, but Microsoft itself suggested that it had considered splitting campaign and multiplayer in order to make launch.

According to Xbox chief Phil Spencer, things may end up going that way still. In a wide-ranging interview with Kotaku, Spencer revealed that the decision of which part of Halo Infinite will be released first, or whether a staggered release is even on the cards, is entirely up to developer 343 Industries.

"Bonnie [Ross, head of the Halo franchise] and the team will go drive those decisions," Spencer said, when asked whether Microsoft has considered releasing Halo Infinite's campaign and multiplayer separately.

"But I think we want to make sure people feel like they have a Halo experience. I think we can look at options like that. So, yeah, I think that’s something to think about, but we want to make sure we do it right," he added, pointing out that the way the game's story is structured needs to also be considered before a decision like that is made.

As part of the same interview, Spencer weighed in on the possibility of more Xbox games coming to Switch, and shared his confidence that the $7.5 billion purchase of Zenimax can be recouped without having to make Bethesda's games available on other platforms.

Halo Infinite does not yet have a release target. For the first time, its multiplayer mode will be free-to-play.