It is natural that large scope games cannot deliver the complete original vision of their developers, after all, problems, changes in plans and a tighter budget can interfere with the project. According to Joseph Staten, creative director at 343 Industries, Halo Infinite is a game that has been through this, as his team had to minimize its open world significantly.

Staten broached the subject during the Game Maker’s Notebook podcast, in which he mentioned that the studio didn’t have enough time to achieve the amount of content that had been originally planned. The guy went on to say that they didn’t necessarily cut much out of the final version, but that they had to downplay what they had in mind for Halo Infinite.

In addition, the studio soon realized that the title didn’t quite fit the standard of open world games and that not all of its traditional concepts would work in something like Halo Infinite. Therefore, Staten stated that there was a greater focus on first-person shooter systems rather than insisting on mechanics that would be out of place in this game.

It’s worth remembering that this isn’t the first time information like this about Halo Infinite has been exposed, as a Bloomberg report in 2021 revealed that 343 Industries cut more than two-thirds of what was planned and reduced the experience that was inspired by something like The Legend of Zelda franchise to something much smaller.