This article was originally posted on Culture of Gaming. Here is the link.
The Halo series is widely seen as the gold standard in the world of gaming, especially when it comes to sci-fi shooting. However, the last few entries had mixed receptions, particularly Halo 5 and Halo Infinite. While Infinite tried to improve on the previous entry and also included an open-world campaign, it also disappointed some, if not most of the player base.
Why is the fanbase not happy with Halo Infinite?
At first, the launch of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer caught everyone by surprise, and everyone was excited by the live service model promised by 343 Industries. The problem here is that now, around a year after the game was released, we barely had 2 seasons of content and a new winter pass that will last until March.
According to 343, the new season pas is launching March 7th, close to a year and a half since the game was launched. This is a problem because previous entries had quite a lot of content, yet Halo Infinite struggles to bring players the content they want. If we check games like Fornite for example, they are constantly delivering new content to players. But Halo Infinite barely brought in a few new maps, not to mention it lacked quite a bit of content at launch.
In addition to that, we have to keep in mind that the game was supposed to launch in late 2020. It needed another year in the oven and even then it was unable to match what the other games were able to bring to the table. Players expect new weapons, new maps, new game modes, and characters as often as possible, that’s the true reasoning behind a live service title. Sure, the idea of switching between battle passes is great, and the fact that they do not expire is definitely exciting. But the lack of content is what really makes Halo Infinite very difficult to deal with as a player.
Lackluster content
Yes, the main reason why the Halo Infinite player base is unhappy is definitely the lack of content. At launch, the game only had 10 multiplayer maps, and even if a few were added on top of that, the truth is that for a live service game, this is just not enough. Having just 2 maps added after launch shows that the game is not in a great state.
And that’s only part of the problem. The Forge is also a Halo staple and unfortunately, it took almost a year after launch for it to arrive. The same thing can be said about co-op, a partial and not full co-op experience was also launched with the recent winter update. It can be difficult to understand what leads to the lack of content, maybe there are not enough people working on the game after launch, or there was no plan to have frequent updates in the first place. Regardless, the player base feels neglected and that’s not ok at all for any live-service game.
The current roadmap
Right now, the roadmap for Halo Infinite just focuses on season 3 which is set to arrive in March. We don’t know if and when we will have a season 4, what it will include, and so on. Their roadmap just included the Winter update which just arrived, and they also added season 3 which is early next year. But other than that, we have no idea where Halo Infinite will go after that. And considering the previous seasons, season 3 might actually end up covering 6 months. So if there is a potential season 4, we might expect it to arrive around 2 years since the game was launched. That’s a severe lack of content, considering that for most online games a season every 2-3 months at most is very normal. So it’s problematic for a game like Halo, especially which has a competitive scene to lack so much content.
Aside from that, the game itself is still lacking a lot of the core elements that make Halo what it is in the hearts of players. Thankfully the Forge arrived, but the game still needs more weapons, more multiplayer modes, and content in general. It’s easy to see why the player base is conflicted because they like the game, but it’s not enough and the additions but also the overall communication from 343 Studio’s side has been less than helpful.
The head of Halo left Xbox after 15 years
In related news, Halo’s game director Bonnie Ross left Xbox after being 15 years in charge. Needless to say, we think that his departure has to do with the lackluster response from fans and the fact that the game is not going so well. Of course, his departure message was very positive, he praised all the work that his team did on Halo Infinite and he also commends the work that everyone did on the Halo series and the Master Chief Collection.
Still, the fact that he left after Halo Infinite didn’t receive the best reactions certainly makes it seem that his departure has to do with that. His work on Halo in general was great, and even if the multiplayer side is definitely the one that received less than positive reviews, the campaign ended up being praised by players and most media. Sure, it has its fair share of problems and the open world is an acquired taste for most players, but it still felt like a step in the right direction.
What can we expect?
As we said, the Halo Infinite Winter Update and Season 3 are the only things shown in the current roadmap. So this is the content that we will half for more than half a year, the only question is whether this is enough. Even if there are no official player numbers, the player base is vocal and stated that many already exited the game and won’t come back until new content arrives.
The multiplayer experience is great, but all it lacks is content. With the right amount of content, Halo Infinite is set to become a fan favorite once more. We can only assume that the team assigned to work on the game was and still is very small, so this is quite the undertaking. It’s hard to figure out why would that happen, considering that Halo is an Xbox staple and people would obviously expect a large team to work on such a major project.
Halo Infinite is not a bad game, it actually runs very smoothly, and the gameplay is great, the only major issues that players are vocal about are the progression which is not exactly ideal, and the lack of updates. We can only expect these to improve in the future, but only time can tell. Unfortunately, some of the players already went on to other games, and they are bound to continue doing so until there’s more content to be had in the game.
Even 343 Industries stated that the current state of the game is disappointing, but they vouched the situation will improve, and the Winter update is definitely a step in the right direction. We will have to wait and see if season 3 will capitalize on that, and hopefully, it will because Halo Infinite has great potential and this is a game that should be very successful in the long run.