Halo Infinite's first weapon variants have been datamined, giving us a clue at what's going to be added in future updates.
If you're wondering what weapon variants are, they're a feature that was introduced in Halo 5, one of the less popular Halo games in the series. This feature introduced modified versions of the main weapons that adjusted some of their stats, such as changing the accuracy, fire rate, or how far it can zoom in. It was a way of allowing players to keep using the weapons they liked, but with some differences.
Although the feature wasn't very popular in Guardians - although, to be fair, neither was Guardians itself - it looks to be making a comeback in Halo Infinite. As datamined by HaloNoticiasMX and shared on the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit, the datamine reveals five weapon variants that could be coming to Infinite in the near future.
The first weapon is the Convergence Bulldog, which has a bigger magazine and tighter spread, meaning it doesn't shoot as wide. The next variant is for the AR, called the MA40, which has a smaller magazine but lets players zoom in a bit further. The next weapon is an exciting one, the S7 Flexfire, which is a variant for the Sniper. This has a bigger magazine and faster fire rate but is less accurate than the regular Sniper.
Next on the list is the BR75 Breacher, which is a faster version of the Pulse Carbine. Finally, a variant of the Skewer, the Volatile Skewer, makes its shots explode after hitting something.
YouTuber Green Knight also found several other weapon variants in the game, including the Pinpoint Needler that increases the Needler's accuracy, the Riven Mangler that lets it shoot three bullets at once, and the Striker Sidekick that has better accuracy with fewer rounds in the magazine.
From these two datamines, it's clear that Halo Infinite has a lot of weapon variants planned for release in upcoming updates. It's not clear when these will be introduced, as variants aren't currently in the game at all, but they seem to be close to being finished considering they can be accessed.