Halo Infinite's Winter Update Adding Long Overdue Change

Halo Infinite's winter update is less than a week away, and when it drops, 343 Industries will have a lot for fans to look forward to. While the new content is going to be the biggest highlight, the developer has also revealed a major quality-of-life change that should make the game much more enjoyable. In a new blog post, 343 revealed a "Match XP Beta." While challenges are currently the main way to progress through the Battle Pass, that will soon be changing. Following the update, challenges "will still provide some XP," but players will now get the majority of their XP from matches.

"With Match XP, players will be rewarded for playing whatever mode they want, and your performance in those matches will tie into those rewards," the game's blog reads. "As such, when the Winter Update launches, the majority of XP that you will earn will come from Match XP."

Players will earn Match XP just for completing matches, and they will also receive additional XP for things like being on the winning team and end-of-match placement. 343 stresses that this is a beta; as such, "the values when the Winter Update launches will not be final, and you can expect to see them tuned up or down to provide an enhanced earn rate." 

Unsurprisingly, fans are quite happy to see this change being implemented! Some Halo Infinite players would have preferred if it happened sooner, but clearly 343 Industries is listening to the fans. Of course, the game's winter update has a lot of other exciting additions in store, including the Forge mode beta, new maps, and more. It remains to be seen whether these changes will be enough to turn around negative opinions of the game, but fans can find out for themselves when the winter update drops on November 8th!

Halo Infinite is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. Readers can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

How do you feel about Halo Infinite's upcoming winter update? What do you think of this change? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!