Halo Infinite players flame “horrendous” battle pass progression

Halo Infinite’s multiplayer beta launched yesterday, but fans are already feeling that the game’s battle pass progression is stunted.

Halo Infinite isn’t due out until December 8, but Microsoft took the surprising step of releasing the multiplayer portion (in beta) early to celebrate 20 years since the original Xbox’s launch.

That sent players into a frenzy as they tried to download the game on PC and console, and while the majority of feedback has been positive, one issue has remained contentious – the battle pass.

While developer 343 Industries had previously revealed that the battle pass could only be progressed through challenge completion, many were simply not ready for the slow pace of unlocks.

Halo Infinite players slam “discouraging” battle pass

Redditor sharkerkiller headed online to compliment the “fantastic” multiplayer, while noting that in three hours of playtime they barely managed to level up. Sharkerkiller wasn’t the only one, though, as the post has earned 10k upvotes and counting.

One commenter said “to be honest I don’t think I’m going to continue playing Infinite if I don’t get XP from matches instead of doing challenges because it’s so discouraging” while another said that after six or seven hours they’d only just hit level two of the premium pass.

Others unfavorably compared the progression to that of Splitgate, another free-to-play shooter.

The game’s weekly challenges have also come under fire. Weekly objectives that focus around weaker weapons have led to frustration that teammates are focused on challenges rather than winning matches, while the challenges themselves can’t be swapped until you’ve progressed far enough to re-roll them.

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While some players noted that the system may be geared towards paying for the premium pass or skipping tiers, some are saying this has put them off spending the additional money until the system is fixed.

“It’s put me off getting a Battle Pass,” one commenter notes, “as I don’t reckon I’ll get far through it”.

343 Industries has committed to constantly rebalancing and updating Halo Infinite as a “games as a service” title, so it’ll be interesting to see if the company does make a U-turn on this.