Update 7/23/2022, 2:55 p.m. ET: 343 Industries has deployed a hotfix that reduces the amount of data downloaded after multiplayer matches. Additional improvements will come in Halo Infinite's August "Drop Pod" update. Our original story is below.
What you need to know
- It has been discovered that Halo Infinite uses significantly more internet data than it's supposed to, potentially causing issues for players with a monthly internet data cap.
- Specifically, the game downloads 305MB from its Content Delivery Network after each match, resulting in roughly 1GB (or more) of data used per hour.
- 343 Industries has confirmed a fix is coming as part of Halo Infinite's planned August update.
- It's currently unclear what's causing the data usage spikes, with some speculating that the problem has something to do with Halo Infinite's Theater replay mode.
If you have a monthly internet data cap and enjoy engaging with Halo Infinite's multiplayer experience, watch out: recently, it was discovered that the game is using significantly more data than it's supposed to, which may potentially cause issues for people that don't have unlimited plans.
Specifically, prominent Halo community member @NicmeistaR noticed that while Halo Infinite's multiplayer matches use about 10-11MB of data on average — a normal amount for online games — it draws 305MB of data from Halo Infinite's Content Delivery Network (CDN) each time you return to the menus after a game. For some context, most multiplayer titles only use about 40-160MB per hour.
This means that Halo Infinite is roughly consuming around 1GB of data per hour, or potentially even more depending on how fast your matches go. This won't be an issue for folks that don't have a data cap, but if you do, it may be a good idea to avoid playing Halo Infinite on both Xbox and PC for now.
I shit you not, this was 2 matches (you can see the two 10mb transfers) the rest was all just the main menu.Same happens on Xbox. pic.twitter.com/kCOI1Mh9faJuly 21, 2022
The Halo community quickly looked to 343 Industries for information following this discovery, and the developer has responded on the Halo Support Twitter account, confirming that an "improvement" for the issue will be included in the upcoming Halo Infinite August update. It's currently unclear when this update will release next month, though the developers have confirmed that a preview blog with more details is coming soon.
It's also unclear what's causing the gigantic spikes in data usage, with some speculating that the issue is related to Halo Infinite's Theater mode saving match replays. Ultimately, we won't know more until 343 Industries provides more information about what's going wrong here.
Ultimately, this is a bit of a bizarre problem, and it's unfortunate that a fix for it isn't coming until some point in August. Until then, players with data capped connections may want to steer clear of Halo Infinite's multiplayer.
