Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer went live earlier in November. Since then, cheaters have proliferated the game’s servers to the point that it’s become unplayable for some. Players have even begun asking 343 to disable cross-play between PC and the Xbox One, as well as Xbox Series S/X, in an attempt to minimize cheating or at least keep them limited to the PC. So far, 343 hasn’t done this yet, but the studio has released a worrying statement in light of the game’s rampant cheating.
Is 343 ever going to solve Halo Infinite’s cheating issue?
According to Halo community manager John Junyszek, “cheating is a natural part of supporting a F2P PC game” adding that the studio anticipated the problem. He explains that cheating will “never go away entirely”, which isn’t exactly reassuring. However, he did add that 343 is “prepared and committed to releasing consistent improvements” to Halo Infinite.
In a later tweet, Junyszek clarified that 343 is not just going to work on the game’s anti-cheat system but also “the rest of the game as well.” Junyszek also addressed the game’s lack of in-game reporting, saying that this is a feature that 343 plans on adding in the future.
At the moment, the only way for players to report cheaters is to submit a ticket (preferably with video evidence) to the Halo Support website.
Jumping in to clarify that the wording of "improvements to game's systems" includes not only our anti-cheat, but the rest of the game as well. It's worded this way because we don't take a "single feature" approach, but a game-wide approach to anti-cheat.
— John Junyszek (@Unyshek) November 30, 2021
At the same time, a Twitter account known for understanding cheaters had a warning and a suggestion for 343. The Anti-Cheat Police Department tweeted that Halo Infinite will end up “much worse” than Warzone as far as cheating goes if 343 does not release dedicated server clients to the community. If 343 does this, then the same user made the bold claim that Halo Infinite will be “the next CS:GO and the cheating situation helps solve itself.”
According to The Anti-Cheat Police Department, Halo Infinite uses “in-game data detection to combat cheating” and that this takes too long.
Ultimately, what 343 does to combat cheating is up to them. However, it will help 343 to pay attention to what the Anti-Cheat Police Department said. If 343 doesn’t work on keeping cheating to a minimum in Halo Infinite now that it’s causing problems already, who knows just how much worse the community backlash will be once things get worse? 343 could also look to see what Riot Games is doing with VALORANT and why the game is so effective at keeping cheaters out.
If it’s any consolation, 343 still hasn’t fully launched Halo Infinite yet. There is hope within the community that the official release of Halo Infinite will coincide with a massive anti-cheat system update that will help address the game’s current issues.
