Halo Infinite devs unveil Battle Pass changes after major player backlash

After Halo Infinite players flamed the game’s “horrendous” Battle Pass progression, 343 Industries has outlined key changes already in the pipeline for a nearby update.

Halo Infinite isn’t officially releasing until December 8. However, Microsoft and 343 Industries surprised fans by releasing the multiplayer beta on November 15 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Xbox and Halo franchise.

Its launch has been well-received so far, especially compared to its two biggest competitors; CoD Vanguard and Battlefield 2042. However, there’s been one early point of contention.

The community isn’t impressed with its slow battle pass progression, even describing it as “horrendous.”

After a day of backlash across social media, 343 has responded to the controversy and unveiled new improvements on the way.

Halo Infinite’s battle pass progression has been criticized for being slow, even with XP Boosts.

Brian Jarrard, Halo Community Director at 343 Industries, first responded to the backlash on November 16.

He thanked everyone who jumped into the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta, which peaked at just under 300,000 players on Steam. Then, he assured fans his team is “looking” into battle pass progression.

Just a few hours later and Halo Community Manager John Junyszek chimed in with an extensive look at changes already in the works.

First up, the team is adding ‘Play 1 Game’ challenges to increase XP gains in Halo Infinite, he confirmed. This means no matter what mode you’re in, no matter how well you played, or what weapons you used, you’ll always be making progress in the Battle Pass.

We’ll also be adjusting, fixing bugs with, and removing some Weekly Challenges based on your feedback. These tunings to challenge difficulty will help you progress through Weekly Challenges faster and thus directly speed up your progress through the Battle Pass.

— John Junyszek (@Unyshek) November 18, 2021

Next up, a number of more tedious weekly challenges are either being tuned or removed entirely. “These tunings to challenge difficulty will help you progress through weekly challenges faster,” he explained.

Furthermore, double XP boosts found within the Battle Pass are also being improved. Their duration is set to be doubled, from 30 minutes to one hour.

Though these changes come at a slight cost, Junyszek warned. All weekly challenge progress will be reset in light of the changes. Though to compensate, 343 is awarding every player with the Sigil Mark VII Visor, this week’s exclusive Ultimate Reward.

It should be somewhat easier to grind through Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass once these changes come into effect.

These initial changes are already locked in for an update “later this week,” though no exact date was confirmed.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted here with all the latest as further details emerge.