Halo Infinite’s planned public flighting program may be reduced in scope, or not happen at all due to the “unprecedented challenges” to development this year.
When announced in 2018, developer 343 Industries said it intended to run an “early flighting program” for Infinite, in a similar way to how the community has been able to test early versions of updates to Halo: The Master Chief Collection. In an update posted to the Halo Waypoint blog, Halo Infinite Studio Head Chris Lee noted that the beta program for Halo Infinite has been changed as the studio reacts to current circumstances.
“With Halo Infinite, we are also committed to building the game in partnership with our community but given the unprecedented challenges of this year, we’re not quite where we expected to be in terms of broader public flighting,” Lee’s statement reads. “While not the full program we had envisioned, we have been working very closely with the community on nearly every facet of the project.”
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This means that we may not see as many public flights of Halo Infinite via the Halo Insider Program as we approach the game’s launch later this year. 343 could also shelve the program entirely if it doesn’t fit with the studio’s development schedule. Lee says that the team “is still working and assessing options for broader hands-on opportunities before launch,” and 343 Industries will be sharing updates about potential public flights when they can.
Lee does make clear that, “this process doesn’t stop with launch. In fact, in many ways, feedback and community flighting will be even more important after launch as we partner together to continually evolve and update the game into the future.” That fits with 343’s wider plans, which place Infinite as something more like a platform for future Halo content than a single game.
The public flighting system was used extensively throughout the development of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, most recently for the PC ports of the older games in the series. In other Halo Infinite news, check out these promotional cans of Monster Energy that have been spotted in the wild. The game’s box art was also revealed earlier this week, bearing a striking resemblance to the cover of Halo: Combat Evolved.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Halo Infinite's Planned Public Beta Testing May Not Happen