Xbox Series X launch confirmed for November, despite Halo Infinite delay

The Xbox Series X is officially scheduled to launch in November 2020, Microsoft confirmed Tuesday.

The news came alongside the announcement that the console’s marquee launch title — 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite — has been delayed and will now debut sometime in 2021.

Since Microsoft unveiled the Xbox Series X in December 2019, the company has been saying that it planned to launch its next-generation console in “holiday 2020.” Now we have a bit more clarity on the release window, although the smart money was always on a November debut, as companies want to have new hardware on store shelves prior to the kickoff of the holiday shopping season during the Thanksgiving weekend. Microsoft has yet to announce the price of the Xbox Series X.

“We have plenty to keep you busy until Chief arrives: There will be thousands of games to play, spanning four generations, when Xbox Series X launches globally this November and over 100 optimized for Xbox Series X titles, built to take full advantage of our most powerful console, are planned for this year,” said Microsoft in an Xbox Wire article. The company has long been promising “four generations” of games, building on its yearslong effort to deliver backward compatibility going all the way back to the original Xbox. Older games will run with a variety of improvements on the Xbox Series X, according to Microsoft, such as HDR color and increased frame rates.

Microsoft has yet to officially announce the widely rumored sibling console to the Xbox Series X, which is named the Xbox Series S, according to leaked Microsoft materials. The company will reportedly unveil the Xbox Series S — a lower-powered version of the next-gen platform that is said to be designed for gaming at 1080p rather than 4K — this month.