Halo Infinite’s Seasonal Updates Will Become More Consistent, Says 343

Halo Infinite’s third season starts today, and 343 is touting the launch as the starting point for a consistent stream of content moving forward.

In a post on Xbox Wire, 343’s head of live performance, Sean Baron, addressed the long seasons players have endured in the past, saying the studio is looking to avoid those problems with Season 3.

“In our preview of Season 3, I said that this is the beginning of what seasonality is for Halo Infinite,” Baron said. “But ‘seasonality’ is restrictive. To me, seasonality is really about consistency – we need to be consistent in everything. I feel very confident with where we’ve gone with Season 3, and I have very strong confidence that we’re going to be able to keep improving that consistency, and avoid, completely, the long seasons of the past.

“We’re going to be more consistent. We’re going to continue to evolve the game in close partnership with our players. We’re focused on shipping Season 3 and then, as Chief said, we’re ‘[r]eady to get back to work.’”

Halo Infinite Season 3 moves ahead

Baron also detailed all of the content additions coming to Halo Infinite today. Season 3: Echoes Within includes two new arena maps, one Big Team Battle map, Halo’s take on a gun game mode called Escalation Slayer, a new weapon, and more.

Halo Infinite’s first two seasons weren’t exactly the smoothest rides. After a successful free-to-play launch in late 2021, the Halo community quickly grew frustrated with long content droughts, delays to big features like Forge, and persistent Big Team Battle issues.

The future of the Halo franchise itself became murky earlier this year after deep cuts to Infinite’s development team at 343 Industries. While Microsoft has insisted that 343 is “critically important” to the success of Halo, it seems there are still some big pivots in the works for the franchise, including a potential shift to Unreal Engine.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.