Despite rumors of a battle royale mode coming to Halo Infinite, 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor says the upcoming shooter will not launch with a Fortnite-style mode. He did, however, say that players are more than welcome to create their own battle royale game mode in the franchise's Forge mode.
"We will not talk about the launch content of Halo Infinite until we're ready. 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," O'Connor said in response to a Brad Sams video posted in a Resetera thread. "You can probably make your own Battle Royale mode in Forge even right now though."
Battle royales have been the hot ticket even beyond hits like Fortnite and Apex Legends, with Call of Duty Black Ops 4, Battlefield 5, and even Red Dead Online featuring them as side modes. It wasn't too far-fetched for players to think that the next Halo would feature something similar.
While Halo Infinite's multiplayer plans aren't finalized yet, O'Connor doesn't see things changing enough to include a battle royale mode before launch.
"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." O'Connor said. "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'Connor also expressed his thoughts on battle royales as a concept, making it clear that 343 would always treat it as a mode rather than a dedicated direction for an entire game. "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 [the Master Chief Collection or Halo 5] with some content and scripting additions, because it is a mode," he said. "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."
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