343 Industries has discovered some “late-breaking issues” with Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, and as such, the studio might have to delay the upcoming multiplayer beta. [Update: the issue was that 343 accidentally included concept art in the technical preview, so the team needed to take some time to make sure this content was removed, the studio said in a blog post. Now that the issue is sorted out, the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta will go forward as scheduled this weekend and next]
As part of the Halo Infinite multiplayer livestream on Wednesday, 343’s Brian Jarrard said the there might be a “small shift” in the schedule for Halo Infinite’s next multiplayer beta. The plan was to launch the beta client today, Thursday, September 23, with servers coming online the next day. This might change, however.
“Our hope is that this flight is going to kick off very, very soon. This may or may not happen. We are potentially going to look at a time shift here. We’re not quite sure. When it’s ready, we’ll be ready,” Jarrard said. “We want to be very transparent with you though. We might have a small shift in our schedule, and if we do, we should have more clarity on that at some point in the very near future. For now, teams are working very, very hard–we’re still progressing, but we’re in a little bit of a holding pattern due to some late-breaking issues that we found along the way in this release process.”
Thank you to everyone for tuning into the live stream today! Awesome to share the team's work and very excited to play it together soon.
No updates on flight timing yet, we're in a holding pattern as work continues. We'll see how things are looking tomorrow AM and make the call.— Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) September 23, 2021
In a post on Twitter, Jarrard said 343 will make a decision about the timing for the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta this morning. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
Below is the schedule for this weekend’s beta and next, but remember, things could shift.
Halo Infinite Multiplayer Beta Test Schedule
Dates
- Weekend 1: 4v4 Slayer (September 23-26)
- Weekend 2: Big Team Battle (September 30-October 3)
Specific Times
The Halo Infinite betas will only be available for a set period of hours on each day. “Matchmaking will only be up for a set amount of time each day in order to help us test our servers against the highest concurrency possible,” 343 said. “While this does mean shorter time for players to go hands on, it’s critical to our primary goal of ensuring that our online services are ready for launch.”
Here is the schedule:
WEEKEND 1 (ARENA)
- Thursday evening, September 23:
- Build becomes available for download Thursday night
- Training Mode and Weapon Drills are available
- Friday, September 24 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
- Saturday, September 25 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
- Sunday, September 26 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
- Monday, September 27 @ 10am PT: Flight access closes until Weekend 2
WEEKEND 2 (BIG TEAM BATTLE & ARENA)
- Thursday evening, September 30:
- Flight access turns on
- Training Mode and Weapon Drills become available
- Friday, October 1 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
- Saturday, October 2 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
- Sunday, October 3 @ 10am-2pm & 5pm-9pm PT: Matchmaking available
- Sunday, October 3 @ 9pm PT: Surveys go out to a portion of Halo Insiders
- Monday, October 4 @ 10am PT: Flight access closes
- Wednesday, October 6 @ 10am PT: Halo Support site closes
Source: Gamespot
