The schedule of the upcoming sci-fi shooter’s next phase in pre-release testing was at risk, but now we can rest easy that things are going according to plan - if you have been invited, get ready for your early hands-on preview of the game.
What’s going to happen throughout the two Halo Infinite technical previews?
Earlier today, we reported on the possibility that 343 would delay the upcoming Halo Infinite technical preview. Although the studio declined to elaborate on the details, fans were on the edge of their seats for approximately 24 hours as they waited for word on whether it was postponed or canceled. Thankfully, neither of the two happened. Instead, the Halo Infinite technical preview is proceeding as scheduled. However, as planned, the multiplayer component of the Halo Infinite technical preview isn’t up yet.
✉️ https://t.co/GEUtTF1UMt pic.twitter.com/nrsPpirQgC — Halo (@Halo) September 24, 2021 Alongside announcing that the Halo Infinite technical preview is live, 343 also detailed the full schedule over the next two weekends (September 23-26 and September 30 to October 4). According to 343’s post on Halo Waypoint, the studio’s goal for this weekend’s preview is to test their “services and systems at scale, gather data on a breadth of real-world hardware configuration, and obtain feedback on Arena, Training Mode, as well as the new Halo Waypoint web and app experiences.” However, 343 also teased that “Big Team Battle will go live” the next weekend, which will take things up a notch. TLDR; participants are stuck with the Training Mode and Weapon Drills for the next two weekends except for the scheduled timeframes. As 343 explained earlier this week, this was intentional. Limiting matchmaking to specific times will allow 343 to test the limits of the servers and find out what kind of loads it can handle. Considering that Halo Infinite is scheduled to release on December 8, it makes sense that 343 wants to make sure that the servers are capable of handling heavy loads at launch and the days after it. With that said, here is the schedule for the next two Halo Infinite previews:
Weekend 1 - September 23-26 (Arena)
Friday, September 24 @ 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM PT Saturday, September 25 @ 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM PT Sunday, September 26 @ 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM t0 9:00 PM PT
Weekend 2 - September 30-October 4 (Big Team Battle & Arena)
Friday, October 1 @ 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM PT Saturday, October 2 @ 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM PT Sunday, October 3 @ 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM PT Close: Monday, October 4 @ 10:00 AM PT
In addition to Arena (and Big Team Battle on Weekend 2), Halo Infinite players can access the Social Arena and Bot Arena multiplayer playtests during the specified times. Additionally, Big Team Battle will include Slayer, Capture The Flag, and Total Control on Fragmentation. The current and next Halo Infinite test flights are exclusive to players with fully registered Halo Insider profiles by September 13. Although 343 has not confirmed when the next test flight will happen, we do encourage that you complete your Halo Insider profile as soon as you can. This way, you’ll get a chance to receive an invite to future playtests, whenever that is.
