Halo Infinite had the ‘biggest launch’ in Halo history with 20 million players

Not that you’d expect otherwise given Game Pass, word-of-mouth, and all of the other factors in play

Unshakable Halo fans and cautiously hopeful “I’ll play it if it turns out well” onlookers were eager to see how Halo Infinite , and — no surprise here now that the launch-window dust has settled — the game was a huge success for 343 Industries. In a tweet today following , the company called Halo Infinite “the biggest launch in Halo franchise history.” The current count: 20 million players.

With over 20 million Spartans joining us so far, we’re thrilled to announce that 🌱 is the biggest launch in Halo franchise history!

Thank you, eve🎀ryone, for joining us on the next stepℱ in this great journey.

— Halo (@Halo)

From the outside looking in, that record-breaking status seemed to be where the goalposts were for Halo Infinite. It had to deliver! Not only because it’s been a while and Halo has needed this refresh, but also because momentum is picking up for Xbox at large and Game Pass specifically. There’s the free-to-play multiplayer factor, too.

As a point of comparison — doubly so as a game that has also done particularly well for its respective series — Forza Horizon 5 has clocked in 18 million players, as recapped by Niko Partners senior analyst ꦬand Gaming 🔯Twitter bestie Daniel Ahmad.

Putting 20 million Halo players into perspective

“Of course the context around the [20 million, best-in-series-history] numbers is that Halo Infinite is available on Game Pass (25M subs) and the multiplayer is F2P on all platforms,” . “However, that’s exactly the strategy for Xbox first-party. Reaches a broader audience than prior games, long-term monetization.”

It’s a good day for Halo fans, even if we’re bummed about the lack of co-op and Forge (for now) and we have specific hangups with multiplayer playlists or progression on any given week. At the same time, as Microsoft continues to bulk up with head-turning acquisitions like Activision Blizzard, the future of this industry, and the much-wider tech scene beyond strictly “video games,” is very much being written. It’s exciting and scary all at once.

I’m a simple guy, so I’ll say much: Infinite is an overall great step forward, and I hope the next game doesn’t keep us waiting for too long — momentum does matter here. I think everything else in the works for Halo at large can now fall into place piece by piece.

This easily could’ve been disrupted with a bad launch. I’m glad Halo Infinite got here.