Halo Infinite received quite the spotlight during Gamescom's One Night Live showcase, including the reveal of the game's December 8 release date, but more of the game's campaign wasn't shown.
Fans were disappointed when Halo Infinite's campaign failed to make an appearance during Gamescom, citing concerns they have considering the game's release is just a couple of months away and the last time the campaign was shown in a big capacity was over a year ago.
However, 343 Industries has seen and heard the disappointment over the campaign's lack of appearance during Gamescom and Halo Infinite Head of Creative, Joseph Staten, has now addressed where the campaign was, as reported by GameSpot.
"We're at a critical phase in the flight that is Halo Infinite, so it's extremely important to avoid distractions and stay focused on mission-critical tasks only," Staten wrote in the latest Inside Infinite news post. "For Campaign, that means putting maximum effort into ensuring the wide-open, adventure-filled experience you'll all get to play on December 8 is as great as it can possibly be. And gameplay demos and trailers not only take a huge amount of effort to do well, they also take cycles away from bugs and other shutdown tasks."
In short, when developing a game, creating a gameplay demo or story trailer — which is probably what fans wanted to see of the game's campaign during One Night Live — takes time and that time takes away from developers that would otherwise be working on the full game release.
Staten continued in the blog and explained that he's in the middle of a campaign playthrough and that he can't wait to get home (from Gamescom) to continue.
"I hope all of you take comfort from the fact that, honestly, I can't wait to get back home, fire up the build, and hit 'Continue' on the campaign," Staten said. "No matter how many times I play, Halo Infinite remains, fundamentally, super fun to play — and we're very eager to share all the fun with you through captured gameplay, trailers, and other content once we get this plane safely on the ground."
Staten's statement comes from the same Halo Infinite news post where 343 Industries explained that Halo Infinite's multiplayer progression is tied to challenges rather than XP-based leveling. Just days before all of this, Staten also revealed that the game will be released without campaign co-op or forge at launch.
Halo Infinite's multiplayer and campaign will be released on December 8. While waiting for that, check out IGN's thoughts on the multiplayer technical preview and then check out the recently-revealed Halo Infinite PC requirements.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.