Fans have been waiting for Halo Infinite since mid-2018, and at the end of 2021, it finally released. It took longer than expected due to a year-long delay out of 2020, but some early multiplayer tests and final campaign footage kept people excited. Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer released in November 2021, and the campaign followed in December. With a new pricing model and cross-play for Halo's prolific multiplayer suite, it seemed like the series revival that fans were waiting for.

However, the honeymoon period was short-lived. The campaign treated players well enough, but felt like a stepping stone on the way to its next major story arc. The fact that it's still missing Halo's iconic campaign co-op has not sat well with many fans. Yet that pales next to the controversy surrounding its multiplayer. Despite Halo Infinite's long lead-up to release, a mountain of issues were quickly raised about the free game, and 343 Industries has been slow to rectify them. While Halo Infinite was marketed as Halo's first attempt at a modern live-service game, the amount of service it still needs make its prospects look weaker.

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The Live-Service Model Has Not Worked For Halo Infinite

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The biggest problems plaguing Halo Infinite's live-service model is that it hasn't been providing much. Major updates only come once or twice a month, and the seasons of themed content last much longer than those of other games. Season 1 is still ongoing more than three months after launch, with Season 2 not expected to begin until May. So far, 343 Industries has added traditional playlists and rotated through a few special events. Some work has also gone into improving the progression system, but neither the progression nor playlists have placated players.

Halo Infinite started off on the wrong foot with limited multiplayer modes, customization, and an experience progression system that was panned. Even the microtransactions that tied into these systems were designed in an unappealing way. Fixes have been coming slowly, but promised features are still nowhere in sight. There was even expected to be a proper roadmap a few months into Season 1, but that never materialized. Halo Infinite's broken promises are building up, and now that campaign co-op is aiming for a mid-Season 2 release, it feels like Infinite still launched too soon.

Halo Infinite Needs More Updates Soon

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Negativity toward the brand may be at an all-time high thanks to the new Halo show. Despite being Xbox's mascot franchise, Halo Infinite is rapidly losing players and Twitch viewers. At one point in March, players even noticed a spike in the Master Chief Collection's Steam numbers had surpassed Halo Infinite. That didn't last long, but the newer free-to-play title is still averaging only around 10,000 Steam players and 1,000 Twitch viewers outside special events. Forbes recently reported that Halo Infinite is dangerously close to being bumped out of the 10 most-played games on Xbox, with many other live-service shooters ahead of it.

With this in mind, 343 Industries needs to make a concentrated effort to fix Halo Infinite's issues as soon as possible, and then start Season 2 with a bang. Experience gain and the goals that reward experience need a full revision, and allowing more flexibility in armor customization would also improve things. A preference-based playlist system similar to Halo 5 would do Halo Infinite a lot of good. Even setting the multiplayer infrastructure aside, a common online desync issue plaguing matches must be resolved. Halo Infinite still has potential, but if 343 Industries and Microsoft are too slow to turn it around, there may not be anyone left to enjoy the latest Halo game.

Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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