Halo Infinite hit the multiplayer FPS genre with a one-two punch when it launched last year. First, the multiplayer mode was shadow dropped at a time when games like Call of Duty: Vanguard and Battlefield 2042 left a lot to be desired. After that, the campaign launch let us step into Master Chief's boots after a really long time, for a polished new formula for the series. Infinite also featured on a number of Game of the Year lists, including TheGamer's.
As of today however, the player count has plummeted. According to SteamDB, the 24 hour peak concurrent player count currently stands at just over 10K, leaving it in 97th spot, between The Planet Crafter and Total War: Warhammer 2. This is because 343 Industries has been facing issues with putting out new content for multiplayer. The studio's community director, Brian Jarrard admitted that the player base is getting tired of these delays.
Jarrard replied to one such player, who put up a Reddit post saying that 343 needs to acknowledge these delays and keep fans informed on the addition of new features (thanks, VGC).
"There are indeed a lot of challenges and constraints," said Jarrard's reply. "We're certainly not happy to be unable to meet player and community expectations, it's a difficult situation that's going to take the team time to work through. Right now the focus is on S2 and we'll have more to share on that in the coming weeks. Meanwhile a lot of production planning, costing, planning, hiring, etc.. is all happening which doesn't really lend to detailed regular updates."
"We understand the community is simply out of patience and frankly, I think understandably tired of words. We just need some time for the team to get the details sorted and then we can certainly share as much as we can."
The two biggest features that players have been looking forward to are campaign co-op and the Forge Mode. The two features did not come with the game at launch, and 343 revealed that they will come along with season two. However, in a development update earlier in March, the studio announced that co-op will come later in season two, and Forge will only arrive with season three.