[Update – January 14 @ 2:30 PM ET]: Earlier today, the community director for 343 Industries, Brian Jarrard, posted an update on the Big Team Battle (BTB) hotfix to the Halo Waypoint forums. According to Jarrard, Halo Infinite will get a hotfix for BTB by the “middle of next week.” To make up for the issues, 343 is offering 5 XP Boosts and 5 Challenge Swaps to all players once the hotfix is implemented. There will also be a mid-February patch, with more information coming soon.
The original story, published on January 11, is as follows.
It didn’t take long after its launch for cheats to emerge in Halo Infinite. With 343 Industries’ shooter being free to play, some degree of cheating is to be expected. But Infinite has suffered in this department to a great degree. Thankfully, the developers do have plans to implement improved anti-cheat detection into Halo Infinite. Along with the news, the game is also getting a hotfix for its long-broken Big Team Battle — or BTB — mode.
As posted by Community Director Brian Jarrard on the official Halo forums, an anti-cheat update is coming. The developer states that instances of cheating have been identified, and that 343 Industries has been “working on a patch for mid-Feb.”
Jarrard also explains the reason that players will have to wait for the patch. The matchmaking has “other dependencies” that could interfere with parts of the game.
Furthermore, a BTB hotfix is in the works and should hit live servers in the near future. This hotfix will address several issues with the game mode including the random disconnections and difficulties joining lobbies.
Cheating is inevitable
This is not the first time that a 343 Industries employee has spoken about the state of anti-cheat in Halo Infinite. Previously, Halo‘s senior community manager, John Junyszek, also gave his thoughts on Twitter. The tweet, posted in November, explained that cheating is a natural part of supporting a free-to-play PC game. However, Junyszek wrote that he and the rest of the team are “prepared and committed” to tackling it as best as possible.
The specifics of Infinite‘s anti-cheat detection are unknown but it isn’t thought to be well implemented. Strangely, Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched with support for Easy Anti-Cheat, but no known equivalents are present in Infinite.
It’s frustrating for all involved. Playing against a cheater is never fun and, until this promised update arrives, the situation is unlikely to improve. In the meantime, 343 Industries encourages players to report cheaters as fast as possible through the Halo support site. It’s not an ideal system, but will have to work for the time being until a better alternative is implemented.
