Halo Infinite has gone gold. That’s according to the game’s own Twitter account which made the announcement earlier this afternoon. This might sound confusing since the game also released its free-to-play multiplayer component earlier this week as part of Xbox’s 20th-anniversary celebration, but that was technically a beta release so it didn’t count as “going gold.”
In case you were born before the age of digital downloads, “going gold” was a term used to describe the final version of a game before it was released on physical media. It meant that work was done, champagne bottles were popped, and everyone went home knowing that the hard work of making a game was finally over.
These days it doesn’t mean much. The devs are still going to be working on Halo Infinite right up until its official release on December 8, and after that, they’re still going to be working to squash whatever bugs pop up from the final release. The “gold” version of Halo Infinite will be pressed onto discs for anyone who actually wants a physical version of it, but it’ll be out of date and require a patch by the time players tear the plastic off.
But hey, this is still a milestone, and it’s a good sign that Halo Infinite will indeed release on December 8 as promised. You’ll just have to wait until May for the co-op features.
For now, players can dive into the multiplayer beta to get some of that sweet Halo nostalgia. The first season's battle pass is live now, but players might note that making progress seems to be painfully slow. That's because the first season has been extended to May as well and 343 stretched its milestones out to last six months. That didn't sit well with players, so 343 is looking into how to make the battle pass feel a little bit more relevant after every match.