Halo: The Master Chief Collection failed to live up to the legacy of Xbox's most prestigious franchise for years following its launch in 2014, a mistake Xbox can't afford to make when it comes to Halo Infinite. Thankfully, while Halo: MCC struggled for years to become the game it needed to be, it did eventually succeed. Starting in 2018, fans have been consistently surprised with new quality of life updates, PC rereleases, and brand new in-game content for games over a decade old.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection's recent newfound success is a great indication of the approach developer 343 Industries will likely be taking when it comes to Halo Infinite's multiplayer. New content, seasons, and transparency regarding player have all become the norm when it comes to Halo: MCC. That will likely carry forward into Halo Infinite, thanks in large part due to the man behind Halo: MCC's revival now leading up Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer experience.
That man, Pierre Hintze, is now partner head of Halo production at 343 Industries, overseeing Halo Infinite's multiplayer. While he no longer oversees Halo: The Master Chief Collection's ongoing updates, his influence is still felt, and is a great indication for what fans can expect when it comes to Halo Infinite later this year.
How Halo: MCC Will Inform Halo Infinite Multiplayer
To say Halo: The Master Chief Collection had a rough launch would be an understatement. It instead had a rough couple of years. While fans could play through Halo's various campaigns, multiplayer barely functioned, and numerous features fans had come to expect were noticeably absent. This persisted for years as 343 struggled to right the ship.
Things began to change in February of 2018 when Pierre Hintze took over as head of Halo: The Master Chief Collection's publishing team. A few months later, after a long testing program, Halo: MCC received a massive 73GB update, its largest yet. It improved almost every aspect of the game experience in preparation for its inclusion as part of Microsoft's Xbox Game subscription service. Ever since then, new updates and content have been arriving regularly in Halo: MCC, including a full PC release, crossplay between Xbox and PC, brand-new customization options in games like Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3, and much more.
Now, long-awaited features like a custom game browser as well as brand new Halo 3 maps based on the short-lived Hintze's Halo: MCC track record in a blog post announcing his new position.
It's a huge-win for Halo Infinite. Given Hintze's work on Halo: The Master Chief Collection, fans now have a better idea what the long term plans for Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer might entail. Frequent updates, new content seasons, incorporating player , and transparency between the development team and the players are now all expectations fans have going forward. Considering Halo Infinite is said to be the next decade of Halo, having someone like Hintze at the helm, who so dramatically helped right the ship that was Halo: The Master Chief Collection, should put the minds of fans at ease.
Halo Infinite is scheduled to release on Xbox X/S, Xbox One, and PC fall 2021.