Here's what's included in the tests, how to enter them, and everything else you need to know.
Two more Halo Infinite multiplayer beta tests will take place this month, one for the 4v4 Slayer and one each for Big Team Battle. 343 Industries has gone through all the details in the latest installment of the Inside Infinite series, and we've rounded up the key dates and details below. This includes beta dates, how to download the beta client, what you can play in it and the exact times you can play it.
How to access Halo Infinite beta
To play the Halo Infinite beta, you'll want to check out an email from Halo Waypoint that you'll only get if you've signed up for the Halo Insider program before. When you receive this email, you will see it mention the Halo Waypoint website, and if you are using a PC, copy the key found on the site and enter it via Steam. If you're on Xbox, ignore this message and open the Xbox Insider Hub app on your Xbox console, where you'll see Halo Infinite listed in the Previews section. Here is a step-by-step summary for it:
- Go to the Store on Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S
- Install the Xbox Insider Hub app
- Select the “Previews” section in the app
- Choose Halo Infinite – Insider
- Accept the terms and conditions after joining
- Download Halo Infinite – Insider client
- Launch the client like any other standard game
Tarih
- Weekend 1: 4v4 Slayer (September 23-26)
- Weekend 2: Big Team Battle (September 30-October 3)
Specific Times
Halo Infinite betas will only be available for a certain period of time each day. “To help us test our servers against the highest possible concurrency, matchmaking will only be done for a certain amount of time each day,” 343 said. “While this means less time for gamers, it is critical to our primary goal of ensuring our online services are available.”
Here is the program:
WEEKEND 1 (ARENA)
- On the evening of Thursday, September 23:
- Build becomes available for download Thursday night
- Training Mode and Weapons Drills available
- Friday, September 24, 10:00-14:00 and 17:00-21:00 PT: Matchmaking available
- Saturday, September 25 @ 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 21:00 PT: Matchmaking available
- Sunday, September 26 @ 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 21:00 PT: Matchmaking available
- Monday, September 27 @ 10:00 PT: Flight access is closed until Weekend 2
WEEKEND 2 (GRAND TEAM BATTLE & ARENA)
- On the evening of Thursday, September 30:
- Flight access opens
- Training Mode and Weapons Practice are now available
- Friday, October 1 @ 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 21:00 PT: Matchmaking available
- Saturday, October 2 @ 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 21:00 PT: Matchmaking available
- Sunday, October 3 @ 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 21:00 PT: Matchmaking available
- Sunday, October 3 at 21PM PT: Polls head to part of Halo Insiders
- Monday, October 4 @ 10:00 PT: Flight access is closing
- Wednesday, October 6 @ 10:00 pm PT: Halo Support site is shutting down
Halo Infinite's training mode, weapon drills, battle pass and customization options will be available when matchmaking is offline.
How to Enter
The purpose of the two betas is to test Halo Infinite servers at scale, so as of September 343, 13 will invite anyone who signs up for Halo Insider to join. The second weekend's beta testing will be expanded over the first, so anyone who may have forgotten to sign up for Halo Insider by September 13 will have a chance to get in. Many of us have received emails for this test after being excluded from previous tests.
Crush Insects
Beta testing will help 343 find bugs by consulting the community as well as testing servers. The studio encouraged people to submit bug reports to the developer if they ran into any issues. The studio said it will also follow social media to monitor the community's reported bugs. For these flights, testing of PC hardware configurations and gathering information on large-scale service efficiency will be the focus.
Game Content
Here's a quick snapshot of what will be included in the upcoming Halo Infinite multiplayer tests:
- Social Arena (including objective modes and a new map on Sunday, September 26)
- Bot Arena (including objective mods)
- Big Team Battle (30 September – 3 October)
- Three modes in fragmentation
- Training Mode
- Weapons Exercise
- customize
- Battle Pass
- New Halo Waypoint app and web experiences
The battle pass has undergone some changes, mainly based on player feedback, levels have been increased from 20 to 30 and problematic difficulties have been fixed.
The first Halo Infinite multiplayer beta test took place in July and focused mostly on playing matches against bots. These new tests are bigger and more exciting because they feature live matches against other human players, and in the case of BTB they provide the first hands-on experience with the mod increasing the player limit to 12v12.
Halo Infinite is scheduled for release on December 8. Multiplayer is a free-to-play standalone game, while the offer is included with Xbox Game Pass.