Halo Infinite's Season 2 launch has been 'bumpy' admits creative lead

halo infinite modes
(Image credit: 343 Industries)

Launching a live service game can't be easy. It's hard to remember any games-as-service launch where everything went as planned but normally, as the game updates and time goes by, things get more stable. Unfortunately the release of the second season of Halo Infinite hasn't been all that smooth either.

Our Halo expert Nat Clayton previously said the first season was a bit of a mess, and I had hoped the second would pull it out the bag. But even the head of creative for Halo Infinite, Joseph Staten, has said that the release hasn't gone to plan. 

In a tweet spotted by Eurogamer, he said: "Hey Spartans, this week has been bumpy. That definitely wasn't our goal. We are indeed taking your feedback to heart, especially regarding map jumps and speedrunning. We're reviewing options and will have more news to come."

Players have been upset with the removal of tech like map jumps with the second season. Unintentional geometry within maps that make technical movements possible and even important at high level gameplay, making all the difference to competitive advantages.

Additionally speedrun tactics have been patched out, like using the Pelicans to fly across maps rather than running across terrain. Pelicans are simply not pilotable anymore, which has confused and upset fans after this was a highlight for many. Additionally, speedrunners often rely on bugs in-game to achieve the fastest times possible, some of which have been patched out with Season 2.

The comments under the dev tweet express quite a lot of frustration with the game's current condition. Some complain that fans' wishes aren't being heard, others even posting some questionably broken gameplay. 

But it's only week one of Season 2. With the acknowledgement that things haven't gone quite to plan, fingers crossed that maybe we'll get some quick and hard changes to the game to compensate. And if that doesn't go to plan too, well, at least 343 Industries has added our favourite Microsoft helper Clippy into the game. One day maybe they'll even transform him into an AI, wouldn't that be swell? 

Imogen has been playing games for as long as she can remember but finally decided games were her passion when she got her hands on Portal 2. Ever since then she’s bounced between hero shooters, RPGs, and indies looking for her next fixation, searching for great puzzles or a sniper build to master. When she’s not working for PC Gamer, she’s entertaining her community live on Twitch, hosting an event like GDC, or in a field shooting her Olympic recurve bow.

Read more
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 promo art - three Space Marines standing in formation
Space Marine 2 dev acknowledges its FOMO events are 'a source of frustration and stress for everyone', says it'll fix things and isn't trying to make 'a full live service game' by stealth
A photo of the Windows update menu, showing that I'm all up to date
Windows 11 24H2 is the unwanted holiday gift that keeps on giving thanks to Auto HDR game crashes, audio device woes, odd bouts of stuttering and more
sci fi guy points a neon gun toward camera
Despite a 'teamwide oops, guess we made it too hard moment,' Hyper Light Breaker has 'no regrets' about its mixed-response early access launch, and now it's got a roadmap so everyone can 'git gud'
Crashing servers, flame wars, and a 60-day path to redemption—the utterly chaotic first year of Helldivers 2 has been a democratic doozy
Eivor battling multiple foes in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Previously borked Ubisoft games are now fixed on Windows 11 24H2 as the troubled update begins automatically downloading to compatible PCs
Count Dooku Force-lightnings an enemy in Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection.
Too many games released busted, broken, and basically in early access this year—it's time for it to stop
Latest in Halo
Saber Interactive's head honcho pulled a wild stunt to nab the Halo: Combat Evolved remaster, telling Microsoft he'd do the job for free before ultimately squeezing the publisher for millions
Halo 2 e3 2003 demo
Halo 2's playable E3 2003 demo is an astounding feat of preservation, and everything great about PC gaming
Halo Infinite
Welcome to shooter bizarro world: First Fortnite goes FPS, now Halo Infinite's adding a third person mode
Team members standing in an underground cave
'Y'all killed it': Survive the Undead, a community-made PvE zombie mode, is bringing players back to Halo Infinite
Halo Redshift fan mod Trailer Still
Check out the trailer for this big, cooperative Halo campaign mod
halo infinite season 3 echoes within
Halo Infinite is done with seasons, will get smaller 'content updates' from now on
Latest in News
Three sheep with big guns in Palworld.
It was 'super popular to hate Palworld' after launch, says community manager: 'A lot of companies might crumble under the threats, under the pressure'
Palworld Ancient Civilization Parts - Grizzbolt with a minigun
'It was a very depressing day': Palworld community manager reveals studio's reaction to Nintendo lawsuit
CS 1.6 remade in CS: Legacy.
A gorgeous ground-up remake of Counter-Strike 1.6 is on its way to Steam, and one of the game's original creators says 'it really gives me old vibes'
Portal P3 pinball table
There's a new Portal game and it costs $12,500
MrBeast posing in front of a stack of cashing, promoting Beast Games season 2
Beast Games opens casting for season 2: MrBeast lost a ton of money on season 1 but apparently not enough that he won't do it again
Ark: Lost Colony teaser still.
Ark 2 is still on: The next Ark expansion 'leads into the events of Ark 2,' says Studio Wildcard