The Halo Infinite theme is going to sound even more majestic now that it will support Dolby Atmos.
Game developer 343 Industries has announced that the upcoming Halo Infinite will support spatial audio formats like Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic and DTS Headphone:x for even greater immersion. Per a blog post, Infinite's lead audio director, along with designers and engineers, detailed what spatial audio could do for Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X.
- The best Xbox Series X games available right now
- Xbox Wireless Headset review
- More: That Halo TV series you forgot about is headed to Paramount Plus
"Halo Infinite will be the first Halo title to support the Virtual Surround Sound technologies Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic and DTS Headphone:X," said Halo Infinite, Lead Audio Technical Designer, Chase Thompson. "These spatial audio technologies allow us to make sounds feel like they’re playing from behind or above you, when you’re only wearing stereo headphones."
Changes have also been made to the campaign mode and multiplayer audio, most of which have been suggested by fans. Weapon and environmental sounds will be greatly improved to enhance the experience, which can be heard auditorily between Halo 5 and Halo Infinite. Audio Director Sotaro Tojima says he plans to compose music differently than its predecessors by having a lighter upbeat feel. He wants players to think of this as a reboot of the game’s music.
"I love the scores for Halo 4 and 5 where we tried to incorporate story very carefully but as a result, tonally it wasn’t as hopeful as prior Halo games," said Tojima. "The original games also had dark elements in their stories, but the music largely focused on the brighter side, which worked very well."
The production studio has also been focusing more on getting real-world sounds to be authentic as possible. The blog post also has a number of audio samples to help compare the leap in aural quality between Halo 5 and Infinite.
For multiplayer, having this level of 3D audio could give players more auditory information when discerning player movement. Dolby Atmos succeeds in giving listeners overhead audio, which not only gives greater presence, can likely help players know when someone is above.
Halo Infinite was originally slated as an Xbox Series X/S launch title, but was pushed back after poor fan reception following a reveal event. It’s been reported that the game has been plagued with developmental challenges, which has led to top talent leaving the project. Now we know, courtesy of actor Verlon Roberts, who plays Spartan Griffin, that it’s slated to be out in November of this year. Apart from the accidental slip-up from Roberts, an official release date has not been set.
