Halo Infinite Reveals Fall/Winter Roadmap

August was expected to be the month where Halo Infinite would get the ball rolling for its second season. Not only have some felt a bit of fatigue from playing another six-month long season, but the previously delayed campaign network co-op feature was expected to land in late August alongside mission replay. Information about when players could expect to receive these features didn’t come until Community Director, Brian Jarrard, responded in a tweet last Tuesday that a roadmap update would be coming in the following week.

That update came on September 1st in the form of an extensive 30-minute video. It’s filled with good news and bad news alike, but it’s certainly worth watching to learn about the future plans of Halo Infinite straight from the devs. If you’re looking for a breakdown of the highlights, we have you covered.

The update started straight to the point with Sean Baron, the head of Halo Infinite’s Live Service, going over how the team’s number one priority is proper seasonality so that the fanbase isn’t playing only two seasons of content a year. Alongside this were their player experience goals for making the game feel more rewarding, welcoming, competitive, and high quality. The big takeaways here include reworked match XP, in-game reporting, and fixes for the instability that PC players have long been affected by. Baron also mentioned that the team wants to be more open with the community about what they’re working on.

That understandably segued into the bad news. As excited as many are about playing co-op with their friends online, the community does have a vocal contingent that still enjoys playing campaigns in split-screen co-op. Many had already begun bracing themselves for news with how it was briefly mentioned back in March, when a big news drop for season 2 came out. This video update quickly confirmed that the campaign split-screen co-op would not be shipping and that the resources expected to go to that will be used elsewhere in development.

Delays are also inbound for other long-sought modes and additions. The biggest delay is that season 3, subtitled “Echoes Within,” will now start on March 7th, 2023, and last until June 27th. Instead of extending season 2, from November 8th to March 7th, We’ll see a separate event called the Winter Update. Network campaign co-op, the Forge beta, and campaign mission replay are all expected to launch with the Winter Update.

Two new maps (made in Forge mode) are also coming with this Winter Update. A Match XP beta will be running alongside a free 30-tier battle pass so that the team can fine-tune it before adding it completely to a season. Covert One-CTF and a Spys vs Mercs mode will be added as well during the update.

Season 3 is set to have a lot of content too. In addition to a new 100-tier battle pass and a new narrative event that continues the story from season 2, players can also look forward to a new fracture event and in-game reporting. The Forge beta will also see some updates and a custom game browser will be added, this is sure to support Forge mode even further.

Those who just want to jump in and play will have plenty to do too, as a new Arena map and a new Big Team Battle map are scheduled for the new season. New weapons and equipment will be available as well with the M392 Bandit and Shroud Screen respectively. Finally, two modes called VIP and Escalation are set to debut as well.

Even with a host of content being announced, the cancellation of a fan-favorite feature along with various delays have led to another instance of the community not taking the update well. The Winter Update will be coming practically a week before the game’s first anniversary and many feel there still won’t be much to show after 12 months. No matter how anyone feels though, everyone is hoping that the game can gain some footing in the coming months.