Halo Infinite to rework the battle pass template – ‘We’re coming at this from a player-first mentality’

Last night 343 Industries put out a lengthy video explaining how Halo: Infinite’s multiplayer modes would function. Amidst the gameplay details though were details of how Microsoft would monetise the new free-to-play mode with a new take on the familiar battle pass.

“We’re coming at this from a player-first mentality,” said Ryan Paradis, live design director, who spent six years at Bungie, and six years before that at Rockstar, before coming over to 343 in 2019.

For starters it’s a battle pass system. “There’s no random loot, there’s no loot boxes, it’s important to us that everyone understands how they unlock customisation content.” And all customisation is just cosmetic.

“The Halo Battle Pass will never be taken away from you, once you buy it’s yours and will never be taken away from you…in future seasons you can purchase old battle passes as well as the current one and choose which you want to progress.”

“All the awards are single source, so you’re never going to be confused about where things come from. If you can unlock something in the battle pass we’re not going to let any other player circumvent that by purchasing it from the storefront.”

With an open-ended battle pass reducing the need for players to feel like they have to rush to the end of it within a time limit, plus free-to-play and Xbox and PC crossplay, Infinite looks well set to onboard a larger than ever player-base into Halo’s multiplayer component.