Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite launched in December 2021 with a well-reviewed campaign and free-to-play multiplayer that reignited Halo goodwill, but it shipped without campaign co-op, Forge, or mission replay, and the first year was defined by content droughts, a hostile progression system, and delayed seasons. 343 Industries cancelled split-screen co-op, shipped online co-op and the Forge beta a full year late, endured a leadership exodus and January 2023 layoffs amid Microsoft's 10,000-person cuts, then rebranded as Halo Studios and moved future titles to Unreal Engine 5. Operation: Infinite (November 18, 2025) was the final major content update; ranked playlists and maintenance continue, but the promised ten-year platform lasted four.

• First-year patch cadence was painfully slow: six months for two new maps and game modes in 2022, Season 3 pushed to March 2023, and campaign co-op/Forge arrived a full year after launch — a content drought PC Gamer called Infinite's greatest failing.
• 343 cancelled local split-screen co-op outright (September 2022), reallocating those resources to live service development — the single most trust-damaging follow-through failure in the game's history.
• Leadership collapsed around the live service: studio head Bonnie Ross departed September 2022, multiplayer director Tom French left in December 2022, Joseph Staten moved to Xbox publishing, and ~95 staff were cut in the January 2023 Microsoft layoffs — all publisher-attributed (Microsoft's 10,000-person reduction), but they destroyed development continuity.
• The wind-down was handled generously: Operation: Infinite shipped free with a 100-tier pass, doubled progression, 200+ customization items, and ranked seasons continuing into 2026 — a respectable send-off, but it doesn't offset the four lost years.