343 Industries Responds To 'Halo Infinite' Battle Royale Mode Rumors

Yesterday, a report surfaced from Xbox insider Brad Sams that claimed Halo Infinite will have a battle royale mode at launch, despite claims from developer 343 Industries in the past that suggested otherwise. As you would expect, the report got the Halo community buzzing and quickly morphed into one of the bigger stories of the week, which has prompted 343 Industries to address it and its claims. Speaking on the behalf of the studio, Franchise Development Director, Frank O'Conor, has issued a response that denies the game will feature a battle royale mode when it launches, however, it could have something similar to it.

"We will not talk about the launch content of Halo Infinite until we're ready," said O'Conor over on Reset Era. "I haven't watched the video [Sams' report] 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. It's a mode not a genre. And all the variants out there now are in my opinion quite radically different from my perspective.

"Apex vs Fortnite is chalk and cheese - one focuses on movement and map traversal and the other on building and budgeting. Like CTF. BTB Super Fiesta (for example) contains a lot of the shenanigans and emergent fun of that kind of large experience, but big sandbox modes are not battle royale any more than Oddball is CTF. 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. 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."

O'Conor Continued:

"We are NOT doing this as of now - and no plans to -- but Battle Royale could be made for any of the Halo games in MCC or 5 with some content and scripting additions, because it is a mode. It would have limits based on each engine. I'm pointing that out to be clear that it's one of the ways we think about gameplay possibilities rather than a single direction for a title."

As you can see, O'Conor's response is a bit ambiguous. On the surface, he says there will be no battle royale mode in Halo Infinite. But he also seems to suggest that Halo Infinite won't be wholly a battle royale game, but it could have some mode in a pantheon of other modes that is battle royale or battle royale-like. He also leaves the door open suggesting plans could change in the future.

Halo Infinite is in development for Xbox One, PC, and possibly the next-gen Xbox. For more news, media, and information on the upcoming shooter, be sure to peep all of our previous coverage of the title by clicking right here.

And as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ to talk all things Halo. Would you like to see a battle royale mode in Halo Infinite?

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