Esports

Since Halo Infinite’s launch nearly 1 year ago the community has been contributing crowdfunded dollars to the Halo esports ecosystem. Up to this point, nearly $500,000 has already gone directly towards boosting prize pools of official HCS events – and that doesn’t include funds that have gone directly to partnered teams from the sale of cosmetics in their store. This is remarkable. Thank you to everyone who has contributed up to this point. Partway through the season, based on the community feedback, we realized there was an opportunity to use the crowdfunding to have a greater impact on the ecosystem at large, rather than just a few select tournaments. This led us to begin working with partnered teams to see where we could support and the result was boosting the FaZe prize pool to $75,000 back in April, as well as working with eUnited to fund the Grunt Classic tournament that just took place last month. Supporting partnered teams in this way has proven to be a powerful route to take as we can elevate the work that they’re doing, and even fill in gaps in the roadmap with all new tournaments.   



Going forward, we’re going to continue this new philosophy in an effort to bolster the roadmap and add new events all together, rather than boosting what are already very large prize pools. Overall, we believe this holistic approach will result in more opportunities for players, as well as more content and entertainment for fans to watch. Ultimately, we feel this will drive a larger impact across the entire ecosystem, rather than putting so many eggs in one basket. And on top of all this, we’re going to be increasing the HaloWC FFA Prize Pool from $5,000 to $25,000. Finally, with all that said we’re excited to offer our biggest prize pool of the year at HaloWC with $1,000,000 on the line, of which $400,000 goes to first place alone.  







<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloWC-FFA-Trophy-6349f04493c1a-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48096" srcset="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloWC-FFA-Trophy-6349f04493c1a-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloWC-FFA-Trophy-6349f04493c1a-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloWC-FFA-Trophy-6349f04493c1a-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloWC-FFA-Trophy-6349f04493c1a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloWC-FFA-Trophy-6349f04493c1a-1568x1045.jpg 1568w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloWC-FFA-Trophy-6349f04493c1a.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>FFA World Championship Trophy awaits its victor</figcaption></figure>



So, what’s next? We’ve already begun working with the partnered teams to add more events to the roadmap and we’ll be sharing more details live at the Halo World Championship, along with initial roadmap details for Year 2 of the Halo Championship Series. Like with Year 1, our aim is to publicly announce the entire Year 2 roadmap before all of the Official HCS competition begins, and we’ll be releasing more info following the Halo World Championship this year.  



Once again, we want to say thank you to everyone in the community that has supported HCS. From the fans, to the players, the teams, and all of our partners – thank you.   



The Halo World Championship begins October 20 with the Play-In Stage of the tournament with the Main Event taking place October 21-23 live from the Seattle Convention Center. We hope you all enjoy the show and for those attending the event, we’ll see you there! To see all the latest HaloWC info including schedule and the full FAQ head to the event page on <a href="https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/halowc2022">Halo.gg</a>.

Official HCS

Crowdfunding Approach and Updates

Community

Community Update

Alex Wakeford

Forging Forth

Games

Halo Infinite

As we continue to explore and experiment with Halo Infinite’s playlist offerings, two new experiences now join the fray – Ranked FFA and Social Slayer.  



On top of being a blast, both playlists provide unique opportunities to learn even more about player preferences in matchmaking. Their additions as rotationals will help us study player behavior and playlist health, which will help inform our future rotational plans for the Winter Update and beyond. In <a href="https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/halo-infinite-september-playlist-update" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">September’s Playlist Update</a> blog, we discussed this concept in greater depth and also outlined the popularity of Halo Infinite’s existing playlists. 



Now, let’s take a look at the two new playlists you can play today!



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Ranked Free-For-All</h3>



Ranked FFA will test your ability to separate yourself from the pack. Prove that you are the ultimate lone wolf and climb your way up the ranks.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Modes</h4>



<ul><li>Ranked FFA Slayer</li><li>Ranked FFA King of the Hill</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_Ranked_FFA_1920x1080.jpg" alt="Three Spartans of different colors stand on pedestals of different heights." class="wp-image-47882" srcset="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_Ranked_FFA_1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_Ranked_FFA_1920x1080-300x169.jpg 300w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_Ranked_FFA_1920x1080-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_Ranked_FFA_1920x1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_Ranked_FFA_1920x1080-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_Ranked_FFA_1920x1080-1568x882.jpg 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption>Competitive Halo Infinite Settings: Battle Rifle Starts. No Radar. It’s every Spartan for themselves!</figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Social Slayer</h3>



Social Slayer takes fun to the extreme with some new action-packed Slayer variants. Hop into this playlist with your friend and you’ll have more fun than a barrel of monkeys.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Modes</h4>



<ul><li>Kong Slayer</li><li>Ninja Slayer</li><li>Purple Reign Slayer</li><li>Rock ‘n’ Repulsors Slayer</li><li>Rocket Dodgeball</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_SocialSlayer_1920x1080.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47896" srcset="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_SocialSlayer_1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_SocialSlayer_1920x1080-300x169.jpg 300w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_SocialSlayer_1920x1080-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_SocialSlayer_1920x1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_SocialSlayer_1920x1080-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/HaloInfinite_SocialSlayer_1920x1080-1568x882.jpg 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption> Play with friends, Slay your foes. Obliterate your opponents in an assortment of Team Slayer based modes.</figcaption></figure>



Whether you’re powering through the ranks in Ranked FFA or throwing Fusion Coils at each other in Social Slayer, we hope you find these new experiences enjoyable.



If you have any feedback about these playlists, please let us know in the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://forums.halowaypoint.com/c/games/halo-infinite/8" target="_blank">Halo Waypoint forums</a>. If you run into any technical issues while playing, be sure to report it on the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://aka.ms/HaloSupport" target="_blank">Halo Support site</a>.



We’ll see you online in matchmaking or in-person at the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/HaloWC2022" target="_blank">Halo World Championship</a> next week in Seattle!

Unyshek

Ranked FFA & Social Slayer

Canon Fodder

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Issue 133

Canon Fodder: Food For Thought

Halo Waypoint - Game History & PGCR

As Halo Infinite’s in-game offerings continue to expand, so does our support for the game with Halo Waypoint’s web and mobile app experiences. From launching with deep game integration to expanding its feature set with Halo Infinite’s Service Record earlier this year, Halo Waypoint continues to improve as the essential companion to the game.



Today, we’re excited to share that Halo Waypoint’s latest update, which is now available on all platforms, brings two highly requested features to players’ fingertips — <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.halowaypoint.com/halo-infinite/players/Unyshek/matches?page=1" target="_blank">Game History</a> and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.halowaypoint.com/halo-infinite/players/Unyshek/matches/583a7b16-dda3-46cd-9a25-44890a453f03" target="_blank">Post-Game Carnage Reports (PGCR)</a> for Halo Infinite.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/Waypoint-PGCR-BTB-Fiesta.jpg" alt="PGCR's Player Recap of a BTB Fiesta Slayer match"/><figcaption>PGCR’s Player Recap of a BTB Fiesta Slayer match</figcaption></figure>



The Game History feature serves as your main navigation page to find previous Halo Infinite matches that you’ve played in. That means this goes all the way back to your first match ever played, even all the way back to our surprise launch on November 15 of last year.



From this Game History page, you can select a match and examine its PGCR to see its scoreboard and all its finer details. Kills, Objective play, Accuracy, Medals, and plenty more stats—they’re all shown on this deeper dive with the PGCR. Additionally, if the match was Ranked, you can also see how much your CSR moved up or down as a result of that match’s outcome.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/10/Waypoint-PGCR-Ranked-Progression-Diamond.jpg" alt="PGCR's Player Recap of a Ranked Arena match, including CSR progression "/><figcaption> PGCR’s Player Recap of a Ranked Arena match, including CSR progression </figcaption></figure>



We’re excited to continue supporting Halo Infinite and Halo Waypoint experiences across the board, and today’s update is another step on that great journey. 



To try out these features on your mobile device, download the Halo Waypoint app today: 



<ul><li>Android: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://aka.ms/HaloWaypointAndroid" target="_blank">https://aka.ms/HaloWaypointAndroid</a> </li><li>iOS: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://aka.ms/HaloWaypointiOS" target="_blank">http://aka.ms/HaloWaypointiOS</a> </li></ul>



If you have any feedback about this latest update, please share be sure to share it with us on our <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://forums.halowaypoint.com/" target="_blank">Forums</a>. If you come across any technical issues, please let us know on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://aka.ms/HaloSupport" target="_blank">the Halo Support site</a>. 



Thank you for your continued support and feedback, and we’ll see you online!

Halo Waypoint | Game History & Post-Game Carnage Reports

OPTIC GAMING – YOUR $350K HCS ORLANDO CHAMPIONS!

Halo Infinite – Campaign Co-Op and Mission Replay Achievements

Community Spotlight

Issue 003

Community Corner: WexyLex

We’ve got two changes coming to Halo Infinite’s playlist line up next Tuesday, September 20: The Yappening BTB shenanigans will continue, and we’ll be rotating out the dedicated Land Grab playlist.



Before we jump into those specifics, we wanted to share some insights around how the current playlists are performing, as well as the team’s philosophy and priorities for ongoing playlist management, as these are questions we hear often.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Playlist Fundamentals</h2>



Ever since Halo 2, matchmaking playlists have been at the heart of Halo’s online multiplayer and that remains true today in both MCC and Halo Infinite. Likewise, for as long as there have been Halo playlists, there have been rotational plans that see various modes coming and going at regular intervals. With Infinite, we haven’t seen a lot of rotations thus far, but as the team continues to amass a backlog of tried-and-true modes—along with brand new offerings—this will occur more regularly.



When it comes to playlist management, the team’s priorities are offering variety and breadth of experiences, focusing on the things that are most popular to players (while improving and evolving those that are less popular), and maintaining the best player experience possible.



In general, when new playlists are added, there’s a likelihood that overall match quality declines as the player population is spread across more options (unless, of course, a suitable influx of incremental new players is seen). As a result, some playlists become “unhealthy,” meaning they will experience longer than desired wait times, degraded online performance due to smaller populations around specific data centers, and/or larger than desired variances in player skill levels. Each of these factors can contribute negatively to the overall experience, with the worst case being some players have such a bad time that they move on entirely.



Most recently, Last Spartan Standing was removed as a dedicated playlist due to it no longer sustaining a suitable level of engagement to hit the match quality and player experience bars the team has set. For context, LSS accounted for less than 1% of all player activity (despite it also being some players’ personal favorite mode).



The team has to weigh all of these considerations any time a new playlist is added and/or the population changes. Meanwhile, rotational playlists will continue to play a part in matchmaking and should become more commonplace as the game continues to evolve.



Overall, playlist management is a dynamic process and our plans will continue to evolve based on data and player feedback.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">PLAYLIST RANKINGS</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_06_Watermarked_1920x1080.jpg" alt="A multiplayer Spartan rocking the citron white coating which is part of the Yappening Event Pass." class="wp-image-45501" srcset="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_06_Watermarked_1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_06_Watermarked_1920x1080-300x169.jpg 300w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_06_Watermarked_1920x1080-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_06_Watermarked_1920x1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_06_Watermarked_1920x1080-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_06_Watermarked_1920x1080-1568x882.jpg 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></figure>



Quite a few folks were surprised to hear that Last Spartan Standing was hovering around the bottom of the list given how much they personally enjoy it. Naturally, this raises the questions of what are the most popular playlists and how do my favorite playlists currently fare?



Here’s a stack ranked list of Halo Infinite’s playlists over the past month to give you an idea of what’s most popular and where players are spending their time:



<ol><li>1) Quick Play</li><li>2) Ranked Arena</li><li>3) Fiesta</li><li>4) Team Slayer</li><li>5) Big Team Battle</li><li>6) Tactical Slayer</li><li>7) Land Grab</li><li>8) Ranked Doubles</li><li>9) Team Doubles</li><li>10) Team Snipers</li><li>11) Rumble Pit</li><li>12) Bot Bootcamp</li></ol>



Anytime we have an active event, we see significant impact and shifts across matchmaking. Since it debuted, the Yappening playlist has been the overwhelming favorite playlist (nearly 4x as popular as the #2 playlist).



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE YAPPENING KEEPS ON HAPPENING</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_04_Watermarked_1920x1080.jpg" alt="A multiplayer Spartan rocking the Quilhawk cosmetic item which is part of the Yappening Event Pass." class="wp-image-45473" srcset="https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_04_Watermarked_1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_04_Watermarked_1920x1080-300x169.jpg 300w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_04_Watermarked_1920x1080-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_04_Watermarked_1920x1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_04_Watermarked_1920x1080-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/09/HaloInfinite_2022_Yappening_04_Watermarked_1920x1080-1568x882.jpg 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></figure>



It’s been great to see so many people enjoying BTB antics as part of the Yappening event (which we’ve also been having a blast playing!). Our pal Flipflop the Grunt has thrown one heckuva party and, with his permission, we’re going to keep the good times rolling with a minor change in branding.



When the Yappening officially ends on Tuesday, September 20, the new “BTB Social” playlist will emerge as the new home for the shenanigans you’ve come to know and love in the event playlist.



The Yappening has been a huge success in terms of popularity and engagement, but we’ve also seen the core BTB playlist activity significantly decline in its shadow. The team will be monitoring closely to see how both playlists hold up together and what the overall player experience is to determine what future steps may be needed.



In order to maintain a positive player experience and optimal playlist health, we may need to consolidate and/or rotate things around while we also apply the insights gathered during the Yappening to further improve BTB as a whole further down the road. We’re eager to see how things go and as always, look forward to your feedback.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Land Grab</h2>



On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the dedicated Land Grab playlist will be rotated out of matchmaking. While we know many players have enjoyed this new mode introduced in Season 2, at this stage it’s been steadily declining and starting to fall short of the quality bar for a positive player experience.



Land Grab will be back as part of the Entrenched event with Week 5 kicking off Sept. 27, and the final week slated to begin on Oct. 25. Looking further ahead, Land Grab will roll into Quick Play as part of the Winter Update coming Nov. 8.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">LOOKING AHEAD</h2>



As Halo Infinite continues to evolve and we see new modes brought online we expect to see more regular rotations to offer experiences players want while also maintaining that high quality bar we have set for ourselves. We can’t always offer everything that every individual player wants today, but we’ll continue doing our best to focus on the breadth Infinite has to offer, the modes that are most popular to players, and keep addressing areas that negatively impact your online experience.



We’ll see you online, and thank you for your continued support!

343 INDUSTRIES

Halo Infinite – September Playlist Update

Future Factors