Halo Infinite Losing Multiplayer Story Cutscenes Going Forward, As 343 Focuses On Gameplay

Halo Infinite’s fourth multiplayer season is here, but going forward seasons will be missing story cutscenes that have up to this point accompanied each new season, developer 343 Industries has announced.

The news comes via community director Brian Jarrard, who announced the change on Twitter. Stating that the developer had “refined top priorities and shifted resources internally,” the decision was made to cut seasonal narrative cutscenes in favor of having the team focus on bringing “highly requested features” and other improvements to Halo Infinite instead.

“These trade-offs are never easy to make, and we truly appreciate your support as the team works to make Halo Infinite the best experience possible,” Jarrard writes. “While the job is far from over, Season 4 marks another big step forward and we remain committed to this journey with the Halo community.”

Jarrard’s initial tweet left some room open for interpretation as to whether or not the lack of cutscenes would be permanent going forward, but a 343 spokesperson confirmed to GameSpot that is indeed the case. 343 initially billed Halo Infinite’s seasonal storylines as a key part of its overall mission, with a goal to “deeply root your multiplayer character in the larger Halo universe and give them a vital, active role in the Halo story moving forward,” according to a 343 blog post from June 2021.

With ongoing narrative of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer now in question, it seems fans of the game’s lore may have to wait awhile before any new content comes their way. It was reported earlier this year that Halo Infinite did not have any story DLC or campaign expansions in development, and that the studio was moving away from its in-house Slipspace Engine in favor of Epic Games’ popular Unreal Engine.

343 was reported to have been heavily impacted earlier this year by major layoffs at parent company Microsoft, which may be what Jarrard is referring to in his tweet in regards to the studio having “shifted resources internally.” The studio has additionally seen major shakeups in its leadership in the past year. Joseph Staten, Halo Infinite’s head of creative, left the studio in January. Longtime Halo producer Kiki Wolfkill also left 343 around the same time. In April, it was confirmed that Halo franchise director Frank O’Connor, who worked on the franchise continuously for two decades, had also departed 343. The studio’s co-founder, Bonnie Ross, departed in September of last year.

Halo Infinite Season 4 brings with it the fan-favorite Infection game mode, which up to this point had been missing from the game. Rather than players battling it out against Flood-infected Spartans, Infection this time around will see players taken over by a malevolent Banished AI. The narrative cutscenes for Halo Infinite Season 2 and Season 3 laid down the lore groundwork for the game mode.

Season 4 will additionally introduce a new, non-Battle-Pass-related career progression system, updates to the in-game store, a new 100-tier battle pass, two new maps, the Quantum Translocator equipment, and more.