Halo Infinite’s regular seasonal updates have come to an end, but 343 Industries aren’t abandoning the game, and in fact next week will see the launch of a fairly significant update. This patch will offer a full networking overhaul – rather than trying to patch problems in Halo Infinite’s original networking model, they’ve decided to completely change the underlying tech. At the same time, Easy Anti-Cheat is being added to the game.
“After launch, we heard the feedback around the game’s online experience loud and clear: desync, being shot around corners, etc. And while we did release numerous updates to the previous model, they were not having the impact that players expected and deserved. When we recognized this, the team decided to shift gears and pursue a fundamental change to the underlying networking model. Since then, we’ve been heads down to make it happen.
Last December, we shared a first look at it when it launched in Firefight: King of the Hill and was featured in the Combat Workshop. It was great to see such a positive response from the community online, in our surveys, and on Halo Support—but we knew that it still needed some extra polish before it could roll out on a wider scale. Now that we’ve given it that extra time, we are confident that this updated model will result in a better and more consistent multiplayer experience.
Additionally, next week, Easy Anti-Cheat will arrive in Halo Infinite! Easy Anti-Cheat is a tool that monitors players’ game files while they’re playing Halo Infinite to ensure the integrity of each match and combat cheating. With the March Update, our detection and enforcement capabilities will be enhanced, greatly improving the game’s overall security and our ability to respond to cheaters.”
As is usually the case with this type of software, not everyone is a fan of Easy Anti-Cheat, so we’ll see how fans react to its inclusion in the game. In addition to the networking changes, players can look forward to a new custom version of the Firefight PvE mode…
“With the March Update, we are introducing Firefight Custom. This is a “blank” Firefight mode that keeps the high-level structure of Firefight: King of the Hill intact (Sets, lives, skulls, scoring, Custom Game options), but removes all the logic related to hills. In other words, this is Firefight: King of the Hill without the King of the Hill.
Mode scripters will have full control over what constitutes a win or a loss of a point, whether teams earn skulls, which spawners are triggered and when, and if players can earn more lives. We wanted Forgers to spend less time and budget scripting basic features of the mode and instead spend their time on the logic that supports their ideal experience.”
On top of everything mentioned so far, the next Halo Infinite update will refresh the Squad Battle playlist, rebalance of number of the game’s weapons, and squash some persistent bugs. You can get more details on all that here.
Halo Infinite can be played on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The update detailed above will drop next Tuesday (March 19).
