The Xbox Series X is launching in November.
Microsoft
We finally know when we’ll see the next Xbox. Microsoft will launch the Xbox Series X this November. The tech giant announced the news on Tuesday and it looks like it will deliver on the promised time frame of the 2020 holiday season, although there’s still no word on pricing.
The news comes with a caveat, as one of the biggest launch titles for console — Halo Infinite — the next chapter in the long-running Halo series of video games, will be delayed to 2021 after initially targeting a similar holiday 2020 release window.
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Microsoft announced the refined release window on Tuesday via a blog post, perhaps to help soften the blow of the Halo Infinite delay. 343 Industries, the team behind Halo Infinite, announced the delay on Twitter:
Halo Infinite is supposed to feature bigger and more visually intense battles than any previous game in the series. The first Halo was released back in 2001 for the original Xbox. Original developer Bungie eventually left the franchise to work on Destiny, another popular shooter series, but 343 Industries has been at the helm of Halo for awhile.
Even with the Infinite launch pushed back to 2021, Microsoft promised there will be “thousands of games to play, spanning four generations, when Xbox Series X launches globally this November.” There will also be “over 100 optimized for Xbox Series X titles, built to take full advantage of our most powerful console” coming this year.
No doubt Halo Infinite is one of the big draws for the new Xbox console as it prepares to compete with the upcoming PlayStation 5 from Sony. Halo is one of the most well-known franchises exclusive to Microsoft. Microsoft’s announcement highlighted the many other titles coming to the console in the meantime and promised the ability to play games across all four generations of Xbox.
The PlayStation 5 is also expected this holiday season, although Sony also has yet to announce pricing for the console.
