Halo Infinite is one of the most anticipated games of 2021. Few details have been revealed this year regarding the upcoming first-person sci-fi shooter from 343 Industries. However, we did get some news with the reveal of the Halo Infinite crossplay feature.
An Xbox Wire post announced that there would be Halo Infinite crossplay when the game comes out this year (or whenever that ends up being). This crossplay will be available for the Xbox and PC side of the game, allowing for both types of players to join together in the title.
The Halo Infinite crossplay allows both Xbox and PC players to link up as friends and play the multiplayer matches online. This works for everything from PC to the new consoles of Xbox Series X and S to even the Xbox One line of home consoles.
But there is more to this Halo Infinite crossplay than meets the eye. Sure, you will be able to play with your friends in the game no matter what platform they are on, but it extends beyond that, too. Players will also have their progression throughout the title go beyond just one platform.
That’s right, cross-progression has also been announced for Halo Infinite, allowing you to play wherever you would like. If you start on the Xbox One, for instance, your multiplayer progression and the like will be available everywhere else in the event you upgrade at some point.
Let’s say that you have an Xbox One when Halo Infinite comes out but then later upgrade to an Xbox Series X or a gaming-centric PC: your saves and all multiplayer data will carry over with you to that platform, allowing you to seamlessly transition between all of the platforms at will.
This cross-progression is great and embraces what other recent games like Fortnite, Destiny 2, and Smite have allowed for. This is great, too, for the cloud gaming future that Microsoft is aiming for with the ability to stream a good portion of the Game Pass Ultimate titles to mobile devices, likely including the upcoming Halo Infinite.
In addition, this blog post went over the Halo Infinite crossplay and cross-progression and the various goals for the PC focus that Microsoft has right now. The publisher uses the cloud to power gaming on PC and allows more than 100 console games to be played on a wide range of computers, from low-end devices to older ones that are no longer viable for modern gaming.
But the PC mantra that Microsoft has isn’t so exclusive that it isn’t giving players options when it comes to where they want to play. The publisher has been bringing its games to Steam to provide more options for players, including titles like The Master Chief Collection, Flight Simulator, and Sea of Thieves.
Oddly enough, Microsoft didn’t take this time to announce whether Halo Infinite is coming to Steam in the future, but we would presume that it is going there at some point in time. Microsoft may be refraining from announcing that now to promote its platforms more for the highly anticipated title.
But if Halo Infinite does come to Steam in the future, we would predict that it wouldn’t likely be at the launch of the game but perhaps sometime after the fact. Regardless, the PC community for Microsoft games has been growing considerably.
Since the launch of Game Pass on PC and the release of The Master Chief Collection, more than 10 million players have played it this way. That at least means that there have been 10 million subscribers on PC for Game Pass at some point in time.
Microsoft also states that a “vast majority of them” are brand new to the Halo franchise. Because of this vast popularity, the publisher is committed to bringing more games to PC. Only four months into 2021 and the PC side already has 100 more games available, including a slew of Bethesda titles, brand new PC games, and EA Play titles.
More quality-of-life improvements are coming in the future, like improved installs and supposedly faster download speeds for titles. These will be arriving over the next few months with more details soon. What is fantastic about these changes is that it isn’t just for consumers but also developers.
Microsoft is taking a page from the Epic Games Store, increasing the percentage of revenue that a developer gets from their games. The net revenue for PC games sales will be increased from only 70% of standard for mobile and console titles to 88% on PC.
This change will come into effect on August 1, so there is still some time until then, but then developers will get more of a better cut of the titles responsible for creating, which is great news. This will likely have some positive ramifications for the industry as a whole.
That 18% extra net revenue can add up and make a huge difference for the developers on PC out there. This can convince them to publish their games through Game Pass and the like, in addition to publishing them on Steam or the Epic Games Store.
Furthermore, this can result in more profits for developers than they would have gotten otherwise, potentially resulting in growth and better games from the companies who benefit from this. This spells great news for the PC side of the Microsoft ecosystem, much more than just the upcoming release of Halo Infinite, which we will hopefully have more news about this year at E3.
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