Halo Infinite Season 2’s 6-month extension all too familiar for frustrated fans
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Halo Infinite’supcoming Season 2 “Lone Wolves"roadmap has been extended to six months, doubling the wait for its next major content update. Developer 343 Industriesannouncedits latest content plans on Friday, marking another setback for the free-to-play shooter. While Season 2 remains set to launch on May 3, its included content now stretches an additional six months to Nov. 7. The revised schedule spotlightscontinued concerns around the game’s contentfollowing its console and PC debut last December.
WhileHalo Infinitefirst launched to widespread acclaim, its community has questioned the available content offerings. Players found the title had stripped once-staple features and modes from past Halo entries, joining previously announcedomissions like the cooperative Campaign and its Forge map-building tool. While 343 Industries has followed with limited-time events and smaller tweaks, its next major update now arrives next month.
Halo Infinite adopts a “seasonal” structure, with significant content updates released in tandem with each new season. While 343 Industries has aimed to deliver seasons every three months, Season 1 wasextended to six months shortly before launch, effectively delaying all content once set for Season 2. Lone Wolves hassince received the same treatment, meaning Season 3 won’t arrive until Nov. 8. This May, new maps and permanent modes will be the first — and likely the last — until almost a year after launch.
Delays happen, with the Microsoft-owned studio regularly citing team health and sustainable development as “priority zero” for the project. Halo Infinite was also impacted by a global pandemic, while reports of its troubled development also likely didn’t help. But Halo Infinite’s communitycontinues to express frustration over slow updates and communication,versus other established live-service games on the market.
“And with that, we see season 2 is also 6 months again. Two maps for an entire year,” statedone Reddit user. “No wonder they never wanted to give a roadmap, the nicest thing I can say here is that this is all consistent with the speed the rest of the game is moving. Unbelievable.”
“Is this what apathy feels like? I don’t even get surprised anymore,” anotherReddit user stated. “Campaign Coop & Mission replay is targeting late August, which means it was going to take as long as Season 2 was originally planned to go, and any delay would just mean the hypothetical Season 3.”
“One of the things that’s been getting people through this season is the idea that we won’t have to wait 6 months between future seasons,” aReddit user said. “343 obviously aren’t capable of putting out enough content to fill a six month gap (season 1 is proof of that), so now we have to go through the same thing again? And two post launch maps in a year?”
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With Season 1’s content unable to quell criticisms, the reception to Season 2 shouldn’t come as a surprise. The roadmap also sees co-op campaign support moved to August, the timeframe previously reserved for Season 3, while Forge will drop as an open beta sometime in September. It remains unclear when split-screen campaign support and the unannouncedbattle royale-style mode from Certain Affinity will arrive in-game.
Halo Infinite Season 2 Lone Wolves arrives May 3, introducing a new Arena and Big Team Battle Pass, a trio of new permanent game modes, and an accompanying battle pass. 343 Industries has also committed to monthly “Drop Pods,” mid-season updates designed to roll out improvements at a faster cadence, in response to player feedback.
Halo Infinite’s campaign promises fans the most expansive single-player Halo experience to date, featuring a dynamic open world brimming with stories to uncover and hours of shooter action. Coupled with a robust free-to-play multiplayer suite, it’s a modern masterpiece that’s familiar, yet fresh, in all the right ways.
Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central’s Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft’s gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter@mattjbrown.
