Halo Infinite’s Lack of Pre & Post-Game Lobby Hurts Game, Players Say

It’s clear Halo Infinite players feel that the game’s lack of any kind of pre or post-match multiplayer lobby hurts its social aspects and makes things far less enjoyable. Developer 343 Industries released the multiplayer aspect to its highly anticipated sci-fi FPS in November to celebrate the Halo franchise’s 20^th anniversary, breaking Xbox records for the most concurrent players in the process. So far, reception to Halo Infinite’s multiplayer has been relatively positive, with players quickly getting used to Infinite’s large-scale Big Team Battles and tools like the Grappleshot and Repulsor. Indeed, fans have been waiting for Halo Infinite for a very long time, with 343 famously delaying the game from its planned release alongside the Xbox Series X last year to address negative feedback, and many feel that this effort was well spent.   

Things haven’t always been so positive for Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, as players have complained about the game’s microtransaction-based cosmetics system – with one player calculating that every purchase in Halo Infinite’s first season would cost well over $1000. Some fans have stated that they would rather pay full price for Halo Infinite and unlock new items through gameplay rather than spend real-world money under the game’s current free-to-play model, and 343 Industries would soon announce that it is reworking Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass to allow players to gain experience by simply playing the game.

Cosmetics and player experience aren’t the only areas that some players feel are lacking in Halo Infinite at the moment. Reddit user Justintheballer took to r/halo earlier this week to request that Halo Infinite bring back the pre and post-game online multiplayer lobbies of past Halo games by posting a video clip discussing the subject. Other fans in the comment section agree, stating that they miss the sense of community brought on by the lobbies and other social features brought to Halo and describing Halo Infinite’s multiplayer as one of the “quietest” in the series when it comes to teammates communicating during online matchups. This is punctuated by the fact that voice chat seems to be disabled by default in Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, which led to some players issuing commands to no response during multiplayer rounds.

While Halo Infinite has been hailed by many as a return to form following the divisive Halo 5: Guardians, there are still many highly requested features still missing from the game. 343 Industries announced that the popular campaign co-op and Forge modes of past Halo games would not be available at launch due to time constraints, but the developer has pledged that they will be added to Halo Infinite at some point. Unfortunately, these additional features were recently delayed further because of 343’s shifting priorities toward Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass Season 1, but a newly discovered glitch allows some to play through Halo Infinite’s campaign co-op early.

Online shooters like Halo Infinite have always been a social experience, with teams of players from around the world logging on to chat, strategize, and even brag about their skills on the battlefield. Pre and post-game lobbies have traditionally allowed players to talk with each other and reflect on the recent match they just played, making their noted absence in Halo Infinite especially jarring for longtime Halo fans.            

Source: Justintheballer/Reddit

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J. Brodie Shirey
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J. Brodie Shirey is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe, but aren’t we all? He currently lives in York, Pennsylvania. He is a big comic book, video game, and science fiction fan, and likes writing articles for ScreenRant or scripts for some of his crazy TV show ideas.

A graduate from York County School of Technology, he’s self-published several books on Amazon, and once won 1st place at a regional computer fair for a CGI animated short. He might post it on Youtube someday. He hopes that working for this site will be his first step into the larger universe of online writing, since Megazord technology hasn’t been invented yet and he doesn’t seem to have any Force powers. You can check out his work at The Uncanny Fox, purchase his books on Amazon.com, see his posted scripts on Script Revolution, or see his portfolio here or here. He can also be followed on Twitter @FoxUncanny.

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