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Matchmaking Improvements | Winter Update

In today’s blog covering the improvements landing in the Winter Update, we’re focusing on a few substantial ways in which your matchmaking experience will improve in Halo Infinite.



Here’s a TL;DR of these updates landing next week:
  • Local region matchmaking will make its debut
  • Improved logic for CSR progression
  • Improved rules for quitting with uneven teams
  • And more!

All these updates are great additions to Halo Infinite, so let’s dive into the details!



[h2]Local Region Matchmaking[/h2]

We know that having good latency to the server is an important part of what makes Halo (or any FPS) fun, and we prioritize latency quite high within our matchmaking. However, we know that some folks want more control over their latency, so (as we discussed in a previous post) we’re working to give you that control. To that end, we’ve added a new feature that allows players to choose to match exclusively into games hosted within their local region.

This option can be found in the settings, under Gameplay->Matchmaking->Search Region. The default is “Expanded”, which is the existing behavior: we try to match you in your region but will allow matches outside. Changing the setting to “local” will limit your matches just to your region.



Choosing to search only in your local region will generally improve your latency to the server, because all your games will be played on a datacenter within that region. However, it may also increase your matchmaking time and reduce the fairness of matches you get.

We decide your local region based on the datacenters that you have the best ping to, and the regions we are currently using are:
  • Asia
  • Australia
  • Brazil
  • Europe
  • North America

It’s important to note that each region may have multiple datacenters. So you still may see some change in ping from game to game as a different datacenter is chosen within your region depending on which of those datacenters is better for the players in the game.

A couple notes about how this feature works with fireteams:
  • The Fireteam leader’s setting is used to determine whether a search region is “local” or “expanded”
  • If the players in your fireteam are located in different regions, the matchmaking system will pick a single region that strikes the best balance for all the players in your Fireteam. So, for example, if your four-person fireteam has two players in Europe and two in Australia, it’s likely that your fireteam’s region will be set to Asia to get the best possible experience.

When this launches, please be sure to let us know how it feels. And, as a reminder, if you end up having long queues in your region, please try re-enabling “Expanded” to find matches faster.


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[h2]Updates to CSR[/h2]

We’ve received a lot of feedback that the CSR progression doesn’t feel right, and that the CSR gains and losses were too closely based on personal statistical performance, which doesn’t always represent the impact a player can have in the game. (e.g., communication, map positioning, spawning knowledge, etc.)

To address these concerns, we have overhauled the algorithm that determines CSR gains and losses after a match. We’ve made it more configurable and set up the configuration so that a win or loss for the whole team matters more than individual performance when determining the CSR gains and losses for each player.

We’d love to hear your feedback on how the new algorithm feels. We’ll monitor these changes and community feedback to help inform future updates as the new CSR season progresses.

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[h2]Reduced & Clearer Penalties in Ranked Games With Uneven Teams[/h2]

Currently, when a player fails to connect to a ranked match or quits early in the match, other players are forced to play out the entirety of the match even though it may not be fun (particularly for those on the quitter’s team), because the team that’s short will likely lose. To address this in the near term, we’re making some changes to the penalties that players will see when they quit in these situations.

There are two types of penalty for quitting early in Ranked matches: bans and CSR penalties. Both of those will be improved with an upcoming change, which is currently set to land on Nov 10, shortly after the Winter Update’s launch.



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[h2]Improved Ban Logic in Uneven Ranked Matches[/h2]

Currently anyone who quits will receive a “flag” and getting too many flags in a short period of time will result in a ban. We’re updating the rules so that only the first person to quit will receive a flag. Everyone else in the game may quit without fear of getting banned.

A couple notes on this:
  • Network disconnects count as quits. Unfortunately, if they didn’t, bad actors could just pull their network cables when they wanted to quit.
  • Other offenses like cheating, team killing, or going idle will still always result in a flag regardless of whether others have quit.

[h2]Improved CSR Logic During Uneven Ranked Matches[/h2]

Currently anyone who quits a ranked game will lose 15 CSR points, regardless of when they quit or whether others quit first. We’re changing the rules so that the first person to quit will always lose 15 CSR points, but if that first person quits early in the game, the CSR losses and gains for everyone else will be capped at +/- 5 CSR points. That means anyone who leaves the match after an “early quitter” will only lose 5 CSR points.

A few more notes about specifics here:
  • “Early in the game” means the first couple minutes
  • As covered above, network disconnects count as quits

We’re limiting the first person quit timer for this CSR logic to prevent potential abuse of this new rule. If the timer goes too late into a match, one player could quit after noticing the game wasn’t going their way just to reduce the CSR impact on their teammates.

We believe we’ve landed on a good time window, but we’ll monitor these updated rules around ban flags and quitting to make sure they land well out in the wild.

Additionally, come the Winter Update, we will reset CSR ranks so that we can give everyone a fresh start in Ranked with all these updates.


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[h2]Future Matchmaking Improvements[/h2]

[h3]Clearer Display of CSR Changes[/h3]

In addition to making the size of CSR changes more sensible, we are making changes to the in-game UI so that it’s easier to see how many points you actually gained or lost after a game. Instead of just showing a visual progress bar for your rank, we’ll also show your current CSR, the CSR value for the next rank, and your CSR progress in your most recent game, all as numbers.

[h3]CSR-Based Matchmaking[/h3]

Last, but certainly not least, we are also working on an update to Ranked matchmaking that will primarily match players based on their current CSR. Our existing system matches purely based on skill rating (MMR), which is closely tied to CSR, but led to some confusion when viewing the ranks in the Post-Game Carnage Report.

Even though our system will still know your MMR and it’s still the underlying basis of CSR, we expect that this new approach, combined with the CSR improvements landing in the Winter Update, will make matchmaking feel fairer and more focused on winning rather than in-game performance.



Our team is constantly energized by your passion and input on the matchmaking experience in Halo Infinite, and we’re excited to bring you these improvements in the Winter Update on November 8th and November 10th.

Stay tuned for more updates on matchmaking in the future as well.

We’ll see you online!

Ultimate Reward & Featured Shop Bundle

Lean, mean, green machine.



Complete all of your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge to earn this week’s Ultimate Reward – Balaho Methane AI color and let your personal AI shine bright like a slimer.

A new Ultimate Reward will become available every week, so be sure to keep an eye on your Challenges and take advantage of these free rewards.

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You call that a knife? THIS is a knife!



Head to the Shop to acquire the Razornail chest attachment for your RAKSHASA armor core and show your enemies on the battlefield that you've played knifey-spooney before.

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To the victor, the spoils.



Featuring the HaloWC 2022 Victory coatings for your Mark VII and BR75 and the HaloWC 2022 Victory Laurels armor effect, this bundle will have you celebrating the thrilling conclusion to the HCS season in style.

A portion of this bundle's profits go towards supporting the newly crowned Champions, OpTic Gaming!

Don't rest on your laurels, swing by the Shop and dress like a Champion! 🏆

Sandbox Balance Updates | Winter Update

Recently, we’ve been sharing a lot about improvements to the overarching Halo Infinite experience with topics such as playlists, Match XP Beta, and more.



Today, we’re diving even deeper into the game and focusing on the sandbox and our core gameplay experience.

We’re happy with where our sandbox is overall, but we know that there is always room for improvement. Since launch, a few common themes (such as weapon balance, aiming feel on M&K and controller, etc.) have emerged as players got more and more familiar with the game.

With the Winter Update’s release on November 8, we’re happy to bring in some changes that will address many areas of community feedback. After the Winter Update, even more updates and tuning changes will be coming down the line based on what we’re seeing in the data and out there in the community.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the sandbox improvements we’re making in the Winter Update and beyond to improve the in-game experience.

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[h2]Winter Update Balance Adjustments[/h2]

For the Winter Update, we wanted to go after weapon tuning updates that would address prevalent themes in community feedback. These adjustments are small, yet impactful, and focus primarily on weapons.



[h3]Plasma Pistol[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Many players reported that the Plasma Pistol was underperforming against Spartans, especially when using its overcharged shot. To help the overcharged shot track as expected at mid-to-close range, we’ve updated its values slightly in the Winter Update. We also noticed the base shot was not seeing much use, so we’ve increased the damage of the base shot to make it a more viable option for players.

Tuning details:
  • Increased base shot damage from 20 to 28
  • Increased charge shot angular velocity from 20 to 35 degrees per second
  • Increased charged shot guided angular velocity at rest from 50 to 70 degrees per second

[h3]Pulse Carbine[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Even as players have gotten more proficient with the Pulse Carbine, it has not been as successful in short-to-mid range as we would like. To help with this, we’ve updated the tracking to help it out in shorter range. To help balance out its power though, we’ll be reducing its tracking at longer range. These changes should help player land shots more consistently in short to mid-range while slightly reducing the effectiveness at longer ranges.

Tuning details:
  • Increased guided angular velocity at rest from 25 to 35 degrees per second
  • Decreased angular velocity from 50 to 30 degrees per second
  • Increased targeted leading fraction from 0.35 to 1
  • Increased guided projectile error radius from 0.2 to 0.22 degrees

[h3]VK78 Commando[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: One of the most common pieces of feedback we’ve seen is that aiming with the VK78 Commando felt loose, especially at shorter range. To help increase its effectiveness up close, we’ve slightly increased the bullet magnetism and slightly reduced the high minimum error. We’ve seen this help players finish off targets at closer range during internal playtests, so we’re eager to see how this plays out in the wild.

Tuning details:
  • Increased Headshot Prioritization Angle from 0 to 0.1 degrees
  • Increased Bullet Magnetism Angle from 1.25 to 1.3 degrees
  • Increased Aim Assist Angle from 5 to 6.25 degrees
  • Decreased minimum error angle max from 0.8 to 0.6 degrees



[h3]BR75[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: We want the BR75 to remain the versatile weapon we know and love, but also have noticed it has been performing a bit too well – making it not feel as rewarding as it should. In the Winter Update, we wanted to raise the skill ceiling on landing the final kill shot as well as reduce its effectiveness at range from the hip. These changes should help make kills with the BR75 feel even more rewarding.

Tuning details:
  • Headshot Prioritization Angle reduced from 0.25 to 0.2 degrees
  • Bullet Magnetism Angle reduced from 2.4 to 2.2 degrees
  • Bullet Magnetism Range reduced from 20wus to 18wus
  • Bullet Magnetism Falloff Range reduced from 12wus to 10wus



[h3]Frag Grenade[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: The Frag Grenade has received feedback that it’s a bit too effective and that throwing one just before dying results in easier trades than intended. In order to help address these issues, we have increased the detonation time slightly. This will give players a little bit more time to react to a grenade that has landed near them. It will also reward players for better placed grenades.

Tuning details:
  • Increased detonation timer by 0.2 seconds

[h3]"Snap Slide"[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Movement is always tricky to balance. We want to allow players to express their movement skill in matches, but we also don’t want that movement tech to completely break maps or create unpredictable gameplay flow. For example, “Curb sliding” and its current uses have been fun to watch and hasn’t been interrupting gameplay flow too much. On the other hand, “snap sliding” allows players to make jumps that could truly break the game flow, including having players jump from Top Mid to the bases on Aquarius.

Tuning details:
  • Fixed a physics bug that allowed “snap sliding”

[h3]Disruptor[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: The Disruptor has started to see more use as we’ve gotten further into Halo Infinite’s lifespan, but it still isn’t doing as well as we’d hoped. To help with this, we’re updating the ammo count to help players close out kills a little more easily. We’ve also spotted reports of the DoT effect being inconsistent and will be working to get an improvement out in a future update.

Tuning details:
  • Increased magazine ammo count from 10 to 12




We’ll be watching the data and community feedback closely when these changes land with the Winter Update, so be sure to let us know what you think once you’ve had a chance to give them a go.

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[h2]Future Updates (Desync, Aiming, and more)[/h2]

Beyond the Winter Update though, we do know that there’s still more to go after to improve the feel of the game. So, in the next few months, we’ll be releasing balance updates, M&K input improvements, and bug fixes for networking (“desync”) issues faster than we have been previously.

In addition to any topics that may emerge after the Winter Update, here are a few other things that are on our list for the next few months.



Please note that this list isn’t exhaustive, but it is meant to provide some insight into what we’re already working on.

[h2]PC & M&K Input Improvements[/h2]

[h3]Aiming Improvements[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: As players have gotten more hands on time with the game, we’ve seen feedback emerge around how aiming and tracking players feels on M&K. We know there’s room for improvement and some updates are on the way.

[h3]Red Reticle on PC[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Red reticle has been a common piece of feedback since flighting and we’re happy to be bringing it online in the future. While turning this on for PC does open the game up to new cheating vectors, we want to enable this and better support our PC players. If a plethora of cheats pop up because of this we may need to reconsider, but until then we’re excited to see how this feels for PC players.

[h3]Scroll Wheel[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: We’ve felt this one too. When using a scroll wheel to swap weapons, sometimes it would double-swap (essentially YYing). We’ll be updating how the game reads scroll wheel inputs to help reduce how often this happens.

[h3]Walk Key[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Right now, walking on M&K has two modes: full walking speed or crouch walking. On controller, you can choose to walk slowly, and avoid radar detection, just by how much you move the thumbstick. Since keyboards only have the walk forward at full speed option, we’ll be introducing a way for them to walk at a slower speed (without needing to fully crouch walk) in a future update.

These input improvements will also carry over to players who use M&K on Xbox consoles.



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[h2]Networking “Desync” Improvements[/h2]

To go after networking improvements (including “desync”), we needed to identify all the various ways the issues could present themself. As covered in our “Closer Look” blog covering the topic, there isn’t a single issue causing all of the problems many classify as desync. Each issue is its own individual bug that we have to find, investigate, reproduce, fix, test, and implement.

In the case of networking and “desync,” we focused in on a few key areas:

  • Desync: When the server says you’re in one place on the map while your client shows you in a different spot.
  • Blank Shots: You fire shots at a player and see them connect, but the bullets deal no damage.
  • Getting shot around walls/corners: You think you’re safely around the corner, but you are dealt a fatal blow from a player who no longer has line-of-sight on you.
  • Ghosts Melees: When you melee a player and hear the hit, but no damage is dealt.

To add to the complexity, sometimes there are multiple ways to encounter the same issue, which means we need to include multiple fixes to truly help reduce how often players experience it. For example, many reports of blank shots we’ve seen are the result of a fake reload bug. A player’s client shows that they have completed the reload, but the server never received that final reload confirmation – likely due to the reload being interrupted – so it thinks their weapon is still empty. The player’s client lets them fire a full barrage of shots, but the server sees this trigger input as if it was happening on an empty magazine, so it reads it as no bullets being fired at all. While it appears as “blank shots” to the player, finding and addressing the root cause is typically more complicated.

With that said, we do have desync related improvements planned to land in the next few updates.

[h3]Ghost Melees[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Hitting a player and seeing them walk away unscathed, or worse, hitting you back and killing you, is extremely frustrating. We focused on this one due to how un-fun it can be, but we’re happy to say that we’re testing some improvements for a few different bugs that were resulting in melee registration issues.

[h3]Blank Shots[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: We mentioned it a bit above, but the fake reload issue is one reason contributing to why players could have blank shots. We know there are other instances of shots not counting aside from fake reloads, and we’ll be going after those too, but we’re happy to be bringing this out first.

[h3]Vehicle Desync[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Since we’ve seen that players are more likely to experience full desyncs when operating a vehicle than moving around as a Spartan, we set our sights on crushing bugs in this space. You can expect some targeted vehicle desync improvements in the next update.

There will still be more work to do on networking and desync – on the specific issues above and others that may arise – but we’re making it a priority and you should see a steady flow of improvements in future updates.



In addition to those networking improvements, we’ve also got a few more balance updates that we’ll be going after in the future as well.

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[h2]Balance Updates[/h2]

[h3]Drop Shot[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: The “drop shot” (or drop weapon) meta, which allowed players to pull up their secondary weapon faster by dropping their primary weapon, was interesting at first – but ultimately became problematic during normal gameplay. We kept an eye on it, especially in high-level matches, and agreed with community feedback that it is just too strong for how easy it is to pull off. As a result, we are planning to bring the drop shot time in line with the speed of just swapping weapons in a future update.

[h3]Thruster[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: While we do want equipment to tip the scales of a fight, we’ve started to see Thruster come out on top of 1v1 engagements more than we intended. We plan on adjusting this a bit to make sure it’s no longer tipping the scales too far in one direction.

[h3]Energy Sword[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: We’ve noticed that the Energy Sword can be a little too effective on maps with tighter corners. To help bring it in line with where we’d like, we’ll be updating the melee trade logic on the Energy Sword. Right now, if both players are no shields and they melee each other, the player with the Energy Sword will survive with a sliver of health. This upcoming update will update the melee logic so both players trade melees and die, which should help prevent the Energy Sword from just tearing through teams without trading.

[h3]Competitive Weapon Respawn Timers[/h3]

Sandbox Team Dev Note: Throughout Halo Infinite’s first HCS season, the amount of power (through on-map pickups like weapons) on each Arena map became a common discussion point. Most competitors felt like there was too much power on the map for pickup, which allowed the matches to snowball. To help address this, we’ll be reducing how quickly weapons respawn as well as how many of each weapon can be on the map at any given time in Ranked Arena. We’ll share full details around these changes before they land in a future update.



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[h2]Closing[/h2]

We’re excited by the promise and potential of Halo Infinite’s core gameplay, and we plan to tend to the sandbox as it continues to grow and adjust as new metas evolve over time. Balance updates, aiming improvements, networking improvements, bug fixes, and more are all on our radar.

Thank you for continuing to provide feedback, and please let us know what you think of these updates when they land. We’ll be listening and prioritizing accordingly.

Match XP Beta & Progression | Winter Update

When the Winter Update arrives on November 8, Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass progression system will be overhauled thanks to the launch of the Match XP Beta.



The Winter Update brings a free 30-tier Battle Pass, and with the introduction of the Match XP Beta, Challenges and Ultimate Rewards will also receive a significant rework to improve your progression and customization journey—for this Battle Pass, for players who haven’t yet completed Season 1 and 2, and for all future Battle Passes as well.

Let’s dive into the specifics of what’s coming…

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[h2]Match XP Beta[/h2]



We are excited to be taking the first major step towards evolving Halo Infinite’s player progression experience by directly acting on player feedback to evolve XP and progression in Halo Infinite.

With Match XP, players will be rewarded for playing whatever mode they want, and your performance in those matches will tie into those rewards. As such, when the Winter Update launches, the majority of XP that you will earn will come from Match XP.

Match XP consists of:

  • XP for completing matches
  • Additional XP for your performance in the match (this accounts for things like being on the winning team, your end-of-match placement, and more)

Take a look at how it appears in-game…



The reason we are calling this the Match XP “Beta” is because we are going to be monitoring the values for each reward category, adjusting them as we move forwards with this new model. This means that the values when the Winter Update launches will not be final, and you can expect to see them tuned up or down to provide an enhanced earn rate.

We look forward to getting your feedback on the rate of progression in the free Winter Update Battle Pass!

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[h2]Challenges & Ultimate Rewards[/h2]
Up to this point, completing Challenges has been the main progression driver through the Battle Pass—Challenges grant XP which levels you up each reward tier. With the Winter Update, we are looking to evolve this system as we pursue the goal of helping players progress their Battle Pass at a faster rate in response to community feedback. This means that the system will transition to be Match XP-focused with Challenges providing a bonus boost.

We still believe that Challenges can help spark players’ interest in the game and provides some good direction for short-term goals, which has previously been part of the multiplayer experience in Halo: Reach and Halo 4, but the purpose of Challenges will be “redirected.”

Completion of Challenges will still provide some XP, but they will now primarily serve as the path towards earning customization items each week through the Ultimate Reward.



This system is getting an overhaul of its own based on player feedback, which can be summarized in three main points:

  • We are reducing the number of Challenges required to hit the Ultimate Challenge from 20 to 10
  • All Challenges in regular weekly decks can be completed in any playlist
  • Challenges are more “general” overall

Since launch, a common point of feedback we’ve received from the community was that players didn’t enjoy queuing for playlists they wouldn’t otherwise play, simply to complete a Challenge and move their Battle Pass progression forward. Mode-specific Challenges were found to be prohibitive to playing with friends, and players shouldn’t have to choose between progress or playing together.

The Winter Update will mark the beginning of shifting all challenges to be playlist agnostic. For the time being, Event Challenges will remain in their current form, tied to their respective Event Playlists, but players can expect to see this change in the future as well.

These overhauls to progression also mean that a Fireteam of friends can stick together and move through their Weekly Challenges and Battle Passes without needing to worry about each player’s individual challenges.



As we’re looking to address a lot of the community feedback we’ve received around Challenges and we’re shifting the philosophy, the Winter Update’s Ultimate Rewards will feature the most popular Ultimate Rewards from Seasons 1 and 2 to help players get another chance to earn them in case they missed them last time.

We hope you all enjoy the opportunity to earn these on the new and improved system during the Winter Update.

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[h2]Career Progression[/h2]
In addition to these improvements for Match XP, Challenges, Ultimate Rewards, and your Battle Pass progression, the team is also continuing to work on an overarching Career Progression system.

We’ll have more to share on that in the future, but it is important to plant a stake in the ground at this point and make clear that what’s coming in the Winter Update is just the beginning of broader changes to come.

To our players, thank you for your feedback around Challenges and progression since launch. We’re excited for you all to get hands-on with these changes and continue to evolve the experience to be more rewarding.

Please continue to share your feedback with us online and here!

Playlist Schedule | Winter Update

Variety is the spice of life – and of Halo matchmaking.



Since launch, the Halo Infinite team has been slowly adding rotational playlists based on community feedback. As playlists come in though, it’s clear that some were popular and should stick around while others didn’t quite resonate with players in the same way. To help make sure we keep a quality experience in each playlist, we’ll be updating our approach to a more rotational strategy.

This new permanent and rotational approach will help keep the offerings fresh week-to-week and should feel similar to the playlist schedule established in Halo: The Master Chief Collection & Halo 5: Guardians.

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[h2]Playlist Structure[/h2]

As we touched on in our August & September Playlist Update blogs, there are some playlists that have performed well and others that didn’t. The ones that have continued to perform well will be sticking around as more established fixtures in our matchmaking offering. The goal is to keep these healthy playlists (ones with good search times, lower latency, and balanced matches) in as permanent offerings, while others rotate through to provide fresh experiences.

Halo Infinite’s playlist offerings will continue to evolve and shift in response to player behavior in-game (where players spend their time) and community feedback. With that in mind, here’s a look at the playlist plan that’ll be landing with the Winter Update on November 8:


Permanent Playlists
  • Quick Play
  • Big Team Battle
  • Ranked Arena
  • Fiesta
  • Tactical Slayer
  • Team Slayer




Rotational Playlists
  • Rotational Core Slot: A playlist that is typically close to the core Halo gameplay experience, similar to Quick Play (e.g., Team Snipers, Team Doubles, etc.). Winter Update’s first core rotational will be Covert One Flag, our new mode, on various maps.
  • Rotational Social Slot: A playlist that is usually closer to the fun, social, and whacky side of Halo (e.g., Social Slayer, Big Team Social, Rumble Pit, etc.). Winter Update’s first social rotational playlist will be Social Slayer, which includes fun-filled modes like Kong Slayer, Purple Reign, and Rock ‘n’ Repulsors.

Our goal is to have the rotational core and rotational social slots update every two weeks on alternating weeks, meaning a new experience will roll into matchmaking every week. This is very similar to the setup that Halo 5 used post-launch to rotate through multiple playlists as well. The plan is to hit this increased cadence, but playlist management will need to adapt and remain fluid based on community input and production realities.

Additionally, once a playlist rotates out, we’d like to refresh its contents with different map and mode combinations before it returns. Whether that means new maps or modes (or simply changing the map/mode combos), we want each playlist to have something different about it when it comes back.



  • Rotational Ranked Slot: A playlist that fosters a competitive experience (e.g., Ranked Doubles, Ranked FFA, etc.). Winter Update’s first Ranked rotational playlist will be Ranked Survivors, consisting of Ranked variants of the Attrition and Elimination modes.

Right now, our plan is for Ranked rotationals to be live for two weeks before the slot shifts to another Ranked offering. The two-week cadence was chosen based on data from Ranked FFA and Ranked Doubles’ performance, which both saw their engagement decline after their first two weeks. Ranks will not reset when a playlist rotates out, so you’ll be able to continue your progress the next time it comes back. Since we’ll keep a predictable cadence, there will be multiple opportunities to jump into your favorite Ranked experiences.



Event Playlists
  • Event Playlists: A slot that will be used when Events roll into the game (e.g., Cyber Showdown, The Yappening, etc.)

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[h2]Playlist Schedule[/h2]

Now, let’s ask (and answer) the most important question about – how does this come together and what does it look like to me as a player?

Below is an example of what it could look like as a calendar view. The playlists that rotate in and out are always subject to change based on the live nature of the game, but this should provide a good idea of how the rotational schedule will function.

Here’s what it could look like when the Winter Update kicks off!



Please note: These dates and playlists are subject to change.

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[h2]Closing[/h2]

Thanks for your continued input on Halo Infinite’s playlists and offerings. We’re doing our best to make sure we ensure a quality matchmaking experience while the team continues to work on an improved method that provides players with even more autonomy over what they want to play. Additionally, when Custom Game Browser lands in Season 3, it should be even easier to find or create the exact experience you want to play.

Thank you again, and we’ll see you on the battlefield!