In a community post on Reddit, a 343 Industries representative has confirmed that changes are coming to Halo Infinite's Playlist system.
343 Industries' Community Director has taken to Reddit to address controversies around Playlists, and reveal a bit about how the developers are responding to community feedback. In a very long message from Brian "Ske7ch" Jarrard, details about how 343 Industries will revamp Slayer, but also his response to the plethora of criticism that has been leveled at the developers.
This is an interesting situation, as lots of butt-hurt Halo fanboys (whom presumably had nothing better to do) took to Reddit to complain extensively about Halo Infinite. The usual threats and aggressive behavior ensued, with the subreddit r/halo actually having to be temporarily shutdown to control the situation. Honestly, how can people feel this strongly about a game? Grow the fork up!
Anyway, Ske7ch started off by addressing some of the criticism:
First, I'm going to stress again that I 100% understand and agree with the frustrations most are expressing even if I don't agree with the attacks and ways in which some choose to express those feelings. Call me a shill, a liar, corporate speak, etc. as you want, but I've never lied to this community and never will. And I'm not saying myself or 343 are a 'victim' in any way – that's yet another narrative some folks here have chosen to apply. It's my job to come in here, listen, frankly take it on the chin, and despite personally being very put off by the way in which many are expressing themselves, still ensure that we are advocating for players internally. We do that regardless of it being positive or negative, and always will.
It's pretty wild that the abuse got to the point where an employee of 343 Industries had to step in and make a statement like this. It is an unusual one to come from a corporation, but yields a level of honesty and integrity that is often lacking from Triple-A Developers and Publishers. Perhaps if Sledgehammer Games had a better approach to this kind of thing, then Call of Duty: Vanguard wouldn't be such an utter disaster. We want to commend 343 Industries for this.
Before we get on with the more content-based news, though, we also want to address the next thing that Ske7ch said. Following that previous quote, he went on to directly address people's assertion that 343 owes fans an explanation Halo Infinite's delay:
I don't personally agree that we 'owe' folks a detailed dissertation on 'what 343 has been doing the last 6 years' or 'who ever thought this was a good idea', etc... We have had people working their asses off for years to try and deliver the best Halo game they can amidst very challenging circumstances. But, I will try to at least provide some context for those who are interested.
We wanted to highlight this particular passage as we think that Ske7ch makes a very important point here, which he then follows up in the next couple of paragraphs. People make games, and those people generally work insanely hard, with crazy hours, to get the experiences you love onto your systems. No matter how you feel about 343 and Halo Infinite, there is no excuse for abusive online behavior towards members of the development team.
Changes Coming to Playlists in Halo Infinite
343 Industries plan on introducing a "robust" Slayer Playlist as soon as possible. The developers are also considering implementing what they term as a "Vanilla Slayer" Playlist in the interim period before they can effectively release the full-scale Slayer playlist. It takes a lot of work to implement this, so the idea of a vanilla playlist would be a good one to tide players over until QA can be successfully completed.
Do you want to read the full Reddit Post? Here it is!
Longer Message From Ske7ch from halo
Ske7ch details a number of plans that 343 Industries has, but also explains why many of these requests are both hard and time consuming to implement. He even needed to establish that 343 Industries are not doing what they are doing for the purpose of forcing Challenge Swap purchases. The dude really is in the wars, isn't he? Let's summarize everything, though, as it is getting a little bit confusing...
343 Industries are working on a full-scale Slayer Playlist, but it will take time. They need to test these things, and it's a lot of work. In the meantime they might, and I repeat, might, decide to introduce a vanilla Slayer playlist. They are working very hard to resolve problems and address constructive criticisms. In the meantime, relax guys. Halo Infinite's multiplayer is both free and fantastic. Quit complaining online, and get enjoying in-game. It's a much better use of your time and energy.