'Halo Infinite' Players Are Boycotting In-Game Purchases

Halo Infinite players are calling the prices in its in-game shop a “blatant smack in the face” as a lot of the customisation components are only available if you shell out. 

Excitingly, the multiplayer mode released on the series 20th anniversary and is free to play, allowing fresh-faced cadets and Spartan veterans to dive into Halo once again. It’s been a long time coming, considering the delays and the problematic sides to its development course, but now that it’s here, we’re all able to bask in the glow of wholesome gaming experiences brought about by our shared love for the hobby.

Psych! I got you for a second there, didn’t I? Actually, players are not happy with Halo Infinite’s in-game shop. More specifically, they’re grumbling about the prices of the custom content that lets you personalise your character. After all of the goodies of the game’s season one were datamined, one player took it upon themselves to calculate how much it would cost you if you bought every single thing to be released. 

Here's our interview with Jeff Steitzer - the iconic voice of the announcer in every Halo - about his statement of support for marginalised identities and what the industry can do for these players.

It’s about £775. That’s equivalent to buying a brand new telly on Black Friday. For some of you, this is going to be a difficult decision — Halo Infinite objets d'art or a new TV? — so I’ll leave you to mull that over. 

Nevertheless, it’s not like these players don’t have a point. You can’t earn any in-game currency through matches meaning that you must cough up the cash if you’d like custom components like new armor colours or weapon effects. In response to this, a subsection of the community are calling others to boycott the in-game shop. 

“These prices are utterly ridiculous and a blatant smack in the face to those who were told all event armor pieces/sets would be completely free,” said Reddit user GoobyOfPls on the game’s subreddit. “I already played a game with someone with the $20 armor and the $15 swords. It was such a bummer to see,” added another player. 

Whether or not 343 Industries adjusts the prices of Halo Infinite’s extras is yet to be determined. Free to play titles like this rely on microtransactions to fund future content updates, however, no one likes to feel like they’re being swindled. In a deleted post on the Halo Waypoint, the developer said that Infinite’s multiplayer mode will not be a “grind-machine that burns everyone out” and that these customisation components aren’t intended to “weaponize FOMO” amongst players.

Topics: Halo, Halo Infinite, Xbox, Microsoft