‘Halo Infinite’ dev says a “vanilla Slayer” playlist is being “re-evaluated”

The dev also addressed complaints surrounding the shooter's controversial monetisation

In a lengthy post, Halo Infinite community director Brian ‘ske7ch’ Jarrard has addressed several concerns surrounding the multiplayer mode and revealed that 343 Industries is “re-evaluating” a potential ‘vanilla Slayer’ playlist.

As Halo Infinite fans have continued to call for a dedicated Slayer playlist, Jarrard has said that adding the fan request is “not quite as trivial as ‘pushing a button'”. In a lengthy Reddit post, Jarrard explained that “UI limitations” limit the number of available playlists.

Jarrard also clarified that some of these changes, despite high demand, will take time:

Advertisement

“The team’s plans for a Slayer playlist, I think, are more robust than what might ‘suffice’ for an interim solution. I love the ideas and some of the variants they’re working on – those all require tuning and most importantly – testing. QA is a huge dependency, and it’s a critical part of the development pipeline that has been running nonstop for months to launch this game.”

Halo Infinite multiplayer
Halo Infinite. Credit: 343 Industries

That being said, Jarrard said 343 Industries is “re-evaluating what it would take to potentially just start with a ‘vanilla Slayer’ playlist as a shorter-term addition until the more robust offering is ready”.

“Historically, a Slayer only playlist and an Objective only playlist has always resulted in the Obj playlist quickly becoming unhealthy – but maybe we inevitably have no choice but to go down that route until more robust systems are available (note I am not a MP or systems designer).”

There’s no time frame provided for the Slayer playlist. However, it may not be instant – Jarrard reminded fans that “at the scale and complexity of this game – any and every change could have monumental impact in a negative way without extensive testing”.

Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite. Credit: 343 Industries.

Advertisement

In the same post, Jarrard also addressed player feedback regarding the monetisation system in Halo Infinite. While admitting that there’s “room to continue assessing the overall economy and value for players”, he also doubles down to re-affirm that the free-to-play multiplayer mode still needs some way to turn a profit.

“The servers you play on cost money to operate. The studio that develops and maintains the game costs money” highlighted Jarrard.

“Was it a priority to make sure that this game could, in fact, generate revenue? Of course.”

343 Industries is currently looking into ranked matchmaking in other Halo Infinite news.

Elsewhere, Battlefield 2042 may not end up using a Santa skin that generated heated backlash from the community.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories