Developer 343 Industries‘ upcoming sci-fi shooter Halo Infinite will host two back-to-back test weekends to put its evolving multiplayer matches through their paces.
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As announced in a blog post on the Halo Waypoint, the game will see the first test running from September 23-26, and the second from September 30-October 3. While a previous trial pitched players against bots, 343 says the upcoming sessions will see the studio “taking things up a notch and testing out full-blown multiplayer”, and that “our primary goal for these two tech previews will be to test our online services at a larger scale than ever before”.
The stress tests will feature a social arena and the return of a bot arena, which will include objectives to complete, plus training modes, weapon drills to get players up to speed on the game’s arsenal, and customisation options. 343 also promises new content for the Halo Waypoint app during the event.
However, the tests will not be totally open free-for-alls over the entirety of each weekend. Instead, there will be fixed windows each day when matchmaking will be available. Sessions will run from 10am to 2pm PT (6pm to 10pm in the UK) and 5pm to 9pm PT each day (1am to 5am the following morning, UK time), making for some potentially very late night sessions.
The first weekend will only offer four-vs-four “Arena” matches, while the second will also host 12-vs-12 “Big Team Battle” shoot-outs, which see the introduction of vehicles into Halo Infinite’s multiplayer. Unlike previous Halo games’ vehicular multiplayer though, powerful vehicles such as the Scorpion tank will no longer be available from the start of a match, but rather spawn later – a change that could massively impact the tactics teams employ in each match.
The test weekends will be open to anyone who registered by September 13. Following the events, 343 Industries will be surveying a portion of players on their experiences in-game. More details about the upcoming tests will be revealed in an official Twitch stream planned for tomorrow, September 22.
Halo Infinite is set to launch for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One on December 8.
Elsewhere, The Witcher 3 quest designer Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz has joined Riot Games to work on its upcoming League Of Legends MMO.
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