Halo Infinite Dev Responds To "Unfounded" Battle Royale Rumors

Halo's community director has responded to a new rumor about Halo Infinite, and he's shut it down. Recently, a rumor appeared that claimed one part of Microsoft's long-term vision for Halo Infinite would be to add a battle royale mode in 2021. It looks like that was just that--a rumor--and it doesn't look like it'll actually come to fruition.

Brian Jarrard, the community director at 343 Industries, responded to this scuttlebutt with a tweet. "Nothing gets a post-holiday Monday going like fresh unfounded Halo Infinite rumors," he said.

Jarrard doesn't mention battle royale by name, but it's clear that his tweet is in response to the latest conjecture about the long-in-development game. In a follow-up tweet, Jarrard said he understands that fans are eager for more information about Halo Infinite. To that end, 343 is planning to release a "year-end update" that will have some new details.

What we do know about Halo Infinite's multiplayer element is that it will be free-to-play, supported in part by microtransactions. 343 has yet to show any gameplay of multiplayer, but the studio has revealed some of the armor coatings AKA skins that will be featured in the multiplayer element.

Back in 2019, Microsoft addressed reports about Halo Infinite introducing a battle royale mode. Franchise director Frank O'Connor said the multiplayer modes for Halo Infinite at launch were not defined yet and could be subject to change until late in the process.

While Halo Infinite may not have a traditional battle royale experience, O'Connor teased, "Are we interested in big social modes with loads of organic shenanigans? Yes. Specifically A blimp full of survivors heading to an Island after a (metaphorical) lecture from Beat Takeshi? No. We are NOT doing this as of now--and no plans to."

O'Connor went on to point out that if you really want a Halo battle royale game, you can make it for yourself in Halo 5 or Halo: MCC with the Forge map-making tools.

Halo Infinite was originally set to release as a launch title for the Xbox Series X|S, but due in part to complications related to COVID-19, Microsoft pushed the game out to 2021. No final release date was offered when the delay was made.