Up until today, the long-anticipated game’s release date had been pegged to a vague “Holiday 2021” window, but the firm release date slipped out via a Microsoft Store update, meant to be confirmed as part of Gamescom’s Opening Night 2021 video presentation, which will begin airing shortly after this article goes live. Soon after the store listing slip-up, The Verge cited “a source familiar with Microsoft’s plans” to confirm that the release date was accurate.

[Update, 2:35 p.m. ET: Halo Infinite team lead Joseph Staten confirmed the release date as part of the aforementioned video presentation, now pictured in the above gallery. That presentation also included a peek at a new Xbox Elite Series 2 gamepad and a new Xbox Series X console design, both modeled after Halo and Master Chief iconography.]