The Xbox Series X and S have launched without what was clearly intended to be their flagship title, Halo Infinite - that's in the past now. However, many of us have been eagerly awaiting news of exactly when the game would appear.

That's now been made at least a little more concrete after a major, lengthy update from developer 343 Industries on its blog, and it's not ideal news from a timing perspective. Halo Infinite will now launch in Fall 2021, potentially a full year or more after the consoles it was hoping to sell came out. 

There are two sides to this coin, of course - you would hope that the game will both look and feel substantially better to play when it does appear, with the benefit of an entire extra year of development time to help it. 

However, there's no escaping the disappointment that a game we hoped to be playing by now won't be around for a good long while - disappointment that Microsoft will doubtless be feeling keenly given the centrality of Halo's Master Chief to its advertising for the new consoles. 

The blog post revealing the new release window is an absolute behemoth, meanwhile, packed to the gills with discussions of how 343 is approaching the game and the searing feedback it got after the first major gameplay demo it shared. 

It contains some of the first details of how Infinite's multiplayer is shaping up, including a few screenshots, so if you want to know every little detail, head to the post for the full spread.