The COVID-19 (or coronavirus) outbreak is still an ongoing infection that the CDC is working to get under control. In an effort to contain the spread, many areas around the world are under mandatory lockdown, which has disrupted daily life in almost every possible way. Among those disruptions is the mandate for many to work from home which has caused expected delays all over. Following many delay confirmations over the past several weeks, Xbox is the latest brand to come forward to talk about COVID’s impact.
With 2020 set up to be a very important year for Microsoft with the impressive Xbox Series X and more acquisitions than ever before to work on exclusives, the sudden upheaval has absolutely impacted this year’s expectations and development. While the launch of the console doesn’t seem to be impacted since Microsoft confirmed that they have increased focus on that launch, that doesn’t mean that the games themselves weren’t hit.
In a recent statement provided by Xbox’s Matt Booty (courtesy of GameSpot):
“We know that gaming connects people during times of social distancing, and we are committed to delivering the highest quality Xbox Game Studios games for our global community of players. At the same time, the health and safety of our XGS development teams is our top priority. Each studio is facing unique challenges and constraints depending on its particular location, and many of our external development partners around the world are similarly affected. We are supporting our studio leaders to make the right decisions for their teams and their individual games during this challenging time.”
Given that the most prominent exclusives such as Halo: Infinite never had an actual release date, simply a release window, any impacts on them could be minute in terms of public knowledge. That being said, more and more confirmed cases and deaths are coming to light, especially in the US where a lot of this development is impacted, though recoveries are also skyrocketing as well. Hopefully society as a whole continues to head CDC’s messaging, despite what current leadership is saying, in an effort to move past this pandemic sooner rather than later.
