A set of job listings at Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries suggests where the shooter's multiplayer is headed.
343 has posted a job advert for a writing director, asking for someone able to create “innovative and engaging, serial narrative content for Halo Infinite’s free-to-play [multiplayer]”, GameSpot reports. That certainly suggests either a seasonal narrative or a story mode is coming to Halo Infinite multiplayer. Similar to the narrative beats delivered in each new season of Call of Duty's battle royale spinoff, Warzone.
The writing director will have to create “seasonal story content” that uses “cinematic scripts”, and “leverages existing Halo lore and adds exciting new chapters to the larger Halo story.” The seasonal nature of the content presumably ties into the DLC schedule that 343 Industries plans for Halo Infinite, much like other live-service games.
A second job posting for a monetization designer, who will create and iterate upon the game’s monetization systems, mentions new “in-game initiatives to drive player engagement and long-term player progression, as well as a player-first store and monetization model.”
The monetization designer role suggests we're going to see changes to Halo Infinite’s much-criticized in-game storefront, as well as possibly new microtransactions and ways of spending money in the game.
Analysis: what does narrative multiplayer look like?
Halo Infinite isn’t lacking a story - its entire single player campaign is steeped in the narrative of the Halo series. But that story content currently sits separate from the competitive, free-to-play multiplayer side of the game, and will cost you around $59.99 / £49.99 / AU$ 89.98 to pick up. (Unless you are a Game Pass member).
This job listing is the first indication that 343 Industries is adding narrative content to the free-to-play side of Halo Infinite. But what, exactly, it will look like is unclear. Players may not have purchased the main game, so the new content might not touch on the single player campaign. I wouldn't expect any specific plot beats to be acknowledged or fleshed out as multiplayer modes.
It’s more likely the new content will focus on wider Halo lore that’s known to fans of the series. Given the deliberate framing of Halo Infinite as a live service game, however, we the multiplayer narrative may be its own story, which develops and evolves with each new season of content, much like as we see in Call of Duty's Warzone.
If you’re after story content right now, though, pick up a copy of Halo Infinite’s single player.
