Losing PC players appears to have become a trend among live-service shooters these days. Just days after we reported that Battlefield 2042 now has less than 1,000 players on Steam, Halo Infinite is suffering from the same fate as well.
As noted by Eurogamer, Halo Infinite’s total player count on PC dropped to less than 8,000 (7,842, to be exact) earlier this week. This might not seem like a low player count when you compare it to Battlefield 2042, but it’s still not a good sign. To make matters worse, 343 Industries’ latest Halo outing had fewer players than The Master Chief Collection, which saw more than 9,000 players within the same period.
The continued decline in the player base of Halo Infinite is unfortunate but not necessarily unexpected. Despite launching to rave reviews, 343’s marquee shooter hasn’t done well.
It also does not help that 343 hasn’t given audiences much of a reason to stick around after the campaign. Without a steady stream of content to keep players interested, Halo Infinite’s problem with retaining its players will only get worse. Not to mention, Halo Infinite isn’t exactly in the best state, with 343 delaying co-op and Forge again.
On the other hand, we could be wrong. A possible explanation for Halo Infinite’s low player count this week might have less to do with it and more about The Master Chief Collection.
It’s no secret that The Master Chief Collection is one of the best Xbox Series S/X games and the latest update might have brought players back to see what’s up. The new update for The Master Chief Collection adds co-op cross-play to Halo 3 and DST as well as Flood to the Firefight mode.
If the uptick in the older bundle’s player count is because of the update, then we should start seeing Halo Infinite’s numbers go up soon enough.
Things are looking up for Halo Infinite with its upcoming Season 2 update and a potential battle royale mode. However, it’s still not a great look that a three-year-old game on the PC (filled with much older titles, no less) has overshadowed Halo Infinite, even if it’s only for a while. We admire 343’s commitment to making player-driven changes to Halo Infinite, but we can’t help but think that maybe the studio is going about this the wrong way.
