It remains to be seen if Halo Infinite will have SBMM when it releases on Xbox One, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC later this year, but we do know it will have input matchmaking, which is a must-have for a game with cross-play. What does this mean? It means keyboard and mouse players will not be able to match and play with controller players in mutliplayer. So, if you’re on PC and want to play with your friends on Xbox, you will need to use a controller or they will need to change their inputs.
According to developer on the game, Mike Romero, this will only apply to competitive playlists. In other words, it will not apply to social playlists or custom matches.
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Speaking to the former, Romero notes 343 Industries believes input is the biggest differentiator, which of course isn’t entirely true. The biggest differentiator is skill, but as noted, it’s unclear if matchmaking will be skill-based or team-based or be a free for all. What we do know is it will be separated and organized by input.
“Social playlists and custom matches are open to all, you can play on any platform and any device with anyone you like,” said Romero. “For ranked matches, we plan to restrict competitive playlists based on input type, not console versus PC. That’s because we believe the input is the biggest differentiator in gameplay ability (with things like aim assist on the controller or the precision of sniping with a mouse). You can play with a controller on your PC to play ranked with your console friends, or even mouse and keyboard on your console to play ranked with your PC friends.”
Halo Infinite is set to release sometime this holiday season via the aforementioned consoles. For more news, rumors, and leaks on the upcoming sci-fi shooter, be sure to peep all of our past and all of our extensive coverage of the game by clicking right here or, alternatively, peruse the relevant links right below:
