Four years after its release, Halo Infinite is, well, not going to be so infinite after all. Developer Halo Studios (formerly 343 Studios) has announced that it's done updating the game with new stuff as it focuses on other projects, like Halo: Campaign Evolved.
The final update will arrive on November 18 and will leave everyone with sped up XP, Spartan Points, and rank progression to play with while they wait for the next game. A new 100-tier premium battle pass will also offer new armor and weapon models to use, which you can view on the blog post.
"With multiple Halo titles in development, we'll need our whole team's combined focus to deliver new experiences with the same passion and care that our community has given us," the post says. "While we remain committed to supporting Halo Infinite on the road ahead, Operation: Infinite is the last major content update currently planned."
It was only last year that Halo Studios announced it was moving away from seasons and focusing on smaller updates. While that didn't spark a lot of optimism from players about the long-term future for the game, the June update added a throwback Halo 3 mode that our own Morgan Park loved, calling its lack of sprinting and mounting a "blueprint for better shooters."
I can't say I'm surprised Halo Infinite didn't last as long as former director Chris Lee predicted it would a year before its release. At the time, Lee said it would be "the last standalone release for the foreseeable future," and that the studio would build on it over time rather than making a proper sequel.
Technically, Lee's comment is still true for the time being. Microsoft hasn't announced the next entry in the series, only confirming that it will be made on Unreal Engine. Halo: Campaign Evolved, the second remake of the first game in the series, is the only Halo we have to look forward to at the moment.
Halo Infinite was never in the shooter spotlight for long and didn't really make much of a comeback in the last few years, but it seems like it had some fun with experimental modes, like one that let you play in third-person. It never took over my life like Halo 3, but it did convince me that battle passes are only cool if they never expire and that user-created modes are just as essential to the series as the energy sword.
