Surprise! Microsoft and 343 Industries dropped a rather big announcement yesterday to coincide with the very special 20th-anniversary celebrations of the Xbox brand.
Halo Infinite Multiplayer is out now on both PC and Xbox consoles for free.
It is still a soft launch with a beta tag, but all Day One content is fully active, alongside the first Battle Pass season, Heroes of Reach. Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and S players can jump in right now and get in on the action.
The surprise push to launch comes way ahead of the December 8 release date that was circled previously. Then again, there is no better time than now, as Halo: Combat Evolved was released exactly 20 years ago.
This launch comes with 11 multiplayer maps, ranging from Arena, which can accommodate 8 players, to Big Team Battle, which can accommodate up to 24 players. A range of game modes are included, too—Slayer, Capture the Flag, and Oddball, to name a few.
You can also find AI training modes and Academy tutorials.
Speaking of finding, since this is a beta, some bugs can be expected. But for the most part, the development team has things under control. Release notes are available if you want a full rundown.
While the full launch out of beta is still happening on December 8, all progress from the current beta period will be carried over, so there is no point in holding back if you are in.
Halo Infinite Multiplayer is available on Steam and the Microsoft Store.
With the multiplayer component of the game pretty much out of the way, the stage is set for the highly anticipated return of the Master Chief himself, with the highly anticipated story campaign of Halo Infinite.
That big day fast approaches.
On December 8, obviously.