Update: A developer from 343 Industries has responded to rumors of Halo Battle Royale. Last week, journalist Brad Sams made a video where he detailed some of his conversations that he had with sources involved with the development of 343 Industries’ next game Halo Infinite. Among the new tidbits of information he discovered was the resurgence of a rumor that we would be getting a Halo Battle Royale game mode in the next entry of the blockbuster Halo franchise. However, this rumor is now in dispute.
“We will not talk about the launch content of Halo Infinite until we’re ready,” said 343 Industries Frank O’Connor on ResetEra. “I haven’t watched the video so if I am misinterpreting the headline as ‘Halo Infinite is launching with/as a Halo Battle Royale mode’ that is still not the case. You can probably make your own Battle Royale mode in Forge even right now though.”
Mr. O’Connor (who currently serves as the Franchise Development Director for Halo) continues on to explain the variety of different Battle Royale game modes out there on the market. What is more interesting, however, is that he leaves some wiggle room for the game mode to appear in future. “The launch modes for MP are not 100% defined and are subject to change till quite late in the process – but Battle Rifle will still be there,” he said in the same comment. “So you can have BR. But are we interested in big social modes with loads of organic shenanigans? Yes. Specifically A blimp full of survivors heading to an Island after a (metaphorical) lecture from Beat Takeshi? No.
Discussion about the possibility of a Halo Battle Royale game mode continued in the thread and Mr. O’Connor chimed in once again in another post. “The only reason I even comment isn’t because I don’t think people should want that mode — but to clarify that the game isn’t being transformed into a ‘Battle Royale clone’ and to point out that the ruleset and concept are not a genre – but a popular social mode and experience that show off two very different underlying games to good effect — and obviously are ways that players can move comfortably between very different [gameplay] mechanics with the context of familiar rules – just as Quake players were able to adjust to Halo through ctf and other modes – the games themselves are fundamentally different.”
So, what’s the verdict? Are we getting a Halo Battle Royale game mode or not? Judging by Franchise Development Director Frank O’Conner’s comments, it seems like we may not be getting it at launch but it is a possibility that we’ll get the game mode in future. The one thing that does seem clear is that the Halo franchise will probably not be going all-in on Battle Royale. That said, he left often the possibility that we’ll have Battle Royale on launch day — only time will tell.
Our original story continues below.
It seems like we may be getting Halo Battle Royale in the next core title featuring the adventures of Master Chief. It’s been some time since we’ve gotten a chance to play as Master Chief and a new game titled Halo Infinite was announced at E3 2018. The landscape of the gaming world has changed significantly since the launch of 2015’s Halo 5 and that’s seen the emergence of Battle Royale as a genre unto itself—if not an outright cultural phenomenon. Now, the rumor mill is turning against it seems like we may indeed be getting a Battle Royale game mode for Halo Infinite.
A video from journalist Brad Sams highlighted on ResetEra has some interesting details on the matter. According to his sources, a Battle Royale game mode will be making its way to Halo Infinite. If this rumor proves true, it may change the face of the franchise’s multiplayer forever and add a great to deal to the game’s already strong popularity.
Here’s a quote from Mr. Sams’ video on the topic regarding the Halo Battle Royale (starting at timestamp 9:07):
“I’m also hearing that Microsoft—or Halo, 343 [Industries]—is going to bring Battle Royale to the next-generation Halo game. Now it’s—I don’t know what form it’s gonna take. I’m hearing that it’s going to have some Halo-esque to it. Like, they’re not gonna just rip Fortnite and Apex Legends at this point because when it ships, it’s gonna be pretty late if you think about it from when those games released. And so they don’t want to, you know, replicate exactly what they’re doing but they’re gonna bring something along that flavor to the next-generation Halo multiplayer. Still working on the exact details, but it is in the early development stages so things can and often will change.
If these rumors prove to be true, this would contradict a statement made in July of 2018 where 343 Industries’ Jeff Easterling said, “I’ll tell you right now, the only BR we’re really interested in is Battle Rifle.” However, the ResetEra thread points out that this was before the explosion of popularity that we saw with the debut of Apex Legends—a clear-cut demonstration that a well-designed Battle Royale game can quickly capture significant market share.
You can watch Mr. Sams’ video for yourself below.
