[GameSpot] - Halo Infinite Dev Clarifies A Key Point About The Battle Pass

[343iBot]

Halo Infinite's head of design has clarified a key point about the sci-fi shooter's Battle Pass system for its multiplayer mode. Jerry Hook said in a blog post that, although it was originally suggested that each new Battle Pass tier will include new free and paid rewards, this is not actually true, at least not for launch.

"First off, I want to correct my own language when discussing the Battle Pass all-up. In our live stream I stated that the Battle Pass system will always have free and paid rewards available at each tier, this statement is incorrect for our launch Battle Pass," Hook said.

While that won'e be the case, Hook said one of 343's goals is to "provide great value to player for their time spent playing Halo," whether they choose to buy the Battle Pass with real money or unlock content through progression alone.

"So, while there isn't a free reward at every tier, there will be numerous free rewards to acquire across the entirety of a season's Battle Pass. (And yes, we are still allowing you keep your Battle Passes once the season is over--they will not expire)," Hook said.

343 has clearly been putting a lot of thought into Halo Infinite's Battle Pass system. In 2018, a job listing at 343 mentioned microtransactions and how developers will use human pyschology and behavioral analysis to encourage people to keep coming back.

Halo Infinite will only offer cosmetic items for purchase, not anything that impacts gameplay, but it remains to be seen how the system will work in practice. And fans are understandably wary after Halo 5's Req pack microtransaction system generated some amount of controversy.

After a year-long delay, Halo Infinite finally releases on December 8 for Xbox and PC. The campaign and multiplayer offerings are separate experiences, with multiplayer adopting a free-to-play approach. The campaign, meanwhile, is bundled with Xbox Game Pass.

We haven't seen much of Halo Infinite's campaign so far, and that's by design. Microsoft's Joseph Staten recently spoke about how because Halo Infinite is in the "shutdown" phase of development, the studio is spending its time squashing bugs and getting the game ready for launch, and this doesn't leave much time or resources for creating special assets for campaign.

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