Halo Infinite Update and Season 2 News

As much fun as I’ve had while playing Halo Infinite, I have to admit that I’ve joined many others in wondering when the game will see more content. Thanks to the latest update on the Halo Waypoint forums, we have an idea of what the team has been working on and a little of what to expect from season 2.

Joseph Staten, the Head of Creative, started by mentioning the team’s priorities of addressing ongoing issues, completing season 2 on time, and working on season 3 along with fan-favorite modes like Campaign Co-op and Forge. He also mentioned a “priority zero” on allowing the team to have a good work/life balance, which has been the reason for the game’s slower pace in terms of content and updates.

For current issues, Staten says the team has a weekly updated hotlist of unknown and known issues that they’ve been watching and working on since the launch. An example of an unknown issue that popped up was the problem with Big Team Battle matchmaking, while a known issue they’ve been working on includes a score-based player progression that will be called Spartan Career. A public version hotlist was used for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and will also be implemented for Halo Infinite.

Next was season 2, which will follow the theme of Lone Wolves. What’s different from the current Heroes of Reach season theme is that Lone Wolves will have a story that’s told through events, items, and cinematics. Concept art for two characters whose armor I hope we’ll get to unlock was shown, as well as the next Fracture armor core which does give off some Warhammer vibes.

The content everyone has been asking for is new modes and maps. Thankfully, we do have confirmation that we are getting new content in both varieties. “Catalyst” and “Breaker”, maps for arena and big team battle respectively were announced. Three new modes were also announced for season 2 with an FFA elimination mode called Last Spartan Standing, the beloved King of the Hill mode, and something new named Land Grab.

Some intentionally unfortunate news was delivered in the form of online campaign co-op needing to be delayed from the start of season 2. A proper release date for it wasn’t provided, but the team is hoping to have it ready sometime during season 2. Curiously, split-screen co-op was only briefly mentioned. More information will be shared in the future about a release date.

Something to look out for further on will be Forge mode and season 3 content. Both have had parts of the team working on them with great progress and the former is expected to release alongside the latter. Considering season 2 should be a more typical three-month period, most of us will likely be unable to dabble in Forge until August.

As excited as you would expect people to be about the update, most of the community has had the opposite reactions. Stretching the first season to six months and the lack of any big updates during it has left players starved for content. For fans of the series, it feels like substantially less content from a typical Halo game. Although some argue that the multiplayer being free and following a live-service model should set different expectations, those versed in live-service games can’t help but compare and expect more too. New game modes are great, but two new maps after six months isn’t going to please many.

Players haven’t taken the update well, but we’ll have to wait until when more details about season 2 content (hopefully including earnable credits) are announced in April or perhaps when season 2 launches in May to see how the community feels then. To hold us over a bit, a new season 1 event will be starting next week called Tactical Ops and will feature a focus on the Tactical Slayer mode.