What you need to know
- 343 Industries has announced that Halo Infinite won't allow players to earn XP from completing or winning matches.
- Progression will instead be limited to completing daily and weekly challenges, which will only occasionally require players to complete or win games.
- There will be a near-infinite amount of daily challenges available for players each day.
While responding to a fan on Twitter, 343 Industries' Community Manager John Junyszek confirmed that progressing the Halo Infinite Battle Pass will be limited to completing daily and weekly challenges, at least at launch. This means that these challenges will be the only source of the experience (XP) that players need to rank up and unlock more rewards, and that players will no longer be awarded XP for completing matches, though it was noted that completing and winning challenges will be required objectives for some challenges.
Junyszek went on to note that the extremely limited supply of challenges players were able to complete during the first official Halo Infinite beta test were the result of a bug, and that at launch, it will be "extremely difficult" for players to run out of daily challenges to complete for XP.
Hey Nick - playing and winning matches will be challenges, which will help players progress through the Battle Pass. Even though this means no per-match XP at launch, you're still always progressing through challenges and therefore the BP. We'll update the blog to clarify 👌Hey Nick - playing and winning matches will be challenges, which will help players progress through the Battle Pass. Even though this means no per-match XP at launch, you're still always progressing through challenges and therefore the BP. We'll update the blog to clarify 👌— John Junyszek (@Unyshek) August 27, 2021August 27, 2021
Based on early responses to this news, it seems like many fans strongly dislikes this direction, and many (myself included) are concerned that Halo Infinite's business model will encourage players to spend real-world money on the Challenge Swap consumables seen during the technical preview whenever they aren't given completion-based challenges to complete.
There were inevitably going to be some compromises made with Halo Infinite since the multiplayer is free-to-play, but uprooting the fundamental way that Halo XP is earned like this is quite a big change. Ultimately, though, we won't know if the new approach is a player-friendly one or not until we see it in action when Halo Infinite launches on December 8.
How do you feel about the changes 343 Industries is making to Halo's progression system? Let me know. For more on Halo Infinite, make sure you check out our full coverage on the Halo Infinite beta schedule. Also, make sure you read our guide on how to play the Halo Infinite beta so that you can properly sign up for the next flight if you haven't already.
The next big adventure
Halo Infinite will hopefully be an incredible game filled with wonder, adventure, and more. Based on the beta and what was seen at E3 2021 and Gamescom, we can't wait for the full release.
