Nobody likes their game to be a grind--that's why it's called a grind. And when a game feels like a job, that's generally when players decide to quit for something a little more fun.
343 Industries is well aware of how live-service games often get bogged down with grind, and that's why the devs have created four pillars for Halo Infinite to respect a player's time.
Live team design director Ryan Paradis and progression director Chris Blohm laid out those four pillars in a new interview posted on Halo Waypoint. We'll list 'em here for ease of reference and because more games should really take these pillars to heart:
- Healthy engagement is paramount.
- We maintain a player-first focus.
- Provide unambiguous value.
- Always be listening, learning, and experimenting.
"We want players to have cool content, activities, events, and rewards over the course of the season, but we do not want to demand that players play a ton of hours every week of the season to complete everything," explained Blohm. "We want players having fun in Halo, not grind it like it’s a job."
Halo Infinite's Battle Pass ties into this mission statement quite nicely. Unlike other games, Halo Infinite's Battle Pass isn't time-limited. You never have to worry about not finishing a Battle Pass before some arbitrary time limit, and if you miss a Battle Pass, you can always go back and work on it after completing your current Battle Pass. Or you can just drop your current Battle Pass and start working on a new one whenever you want--the choice is totally up to you.
"First and foremost, we’re working hard to ensure that the Battle Pass isn’t a ‘grind’ for players," added Paradis. "We want it to be a supplemental reward stream for the time you were already putting into the game."
Battle Passes won't be connected to Halo Infinite's seasons, however, which will last three months and mostly focus on bringing "new gameplay content, new events, new systems, new customizations," and "new progressions." One such event teased was called the "Fracture," which will provide players with non-canon thematic armor. You can see an example of that in our cover image.
But don't worry--although these events will typically last a week, it won't be hard for players to earn these cosmetics.
Halo Infinite arrives this holiday season. We’re still waiting on a specific time because Xbox is still trying to fit it around some other releases, according to Phil Spencer.