'Halo Infinite' Announces Cross-Play, Cross-Progression, and Wide Monitor Support for Updated PC and Xbox Gaming

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 29 April 2021, 01:04 pm

"Halo Infinite" multiplayer component will support cross-platform play and progression when it launches later this year, according to Microsoft.

Halo Infinite Update

The cross-platform play and cross-progression play will be the first update in the latest "Halo" franchise. It is set to launch on Windows PC on the same day it does on Xbox consoles, according to Polygon.

The news was part of an overall update on Microsoft's efforts with PC gaming.

The head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, said that multiplayer customization and progress in "Halo Infinite" will follow players across Xbox Series X, PC, and Xbox One.

"Halo Infinite's" multiplayer will be free to play, Microsoft confirmed last year. The franchise joins "Call of Duty," "Fortnite," and other heavyweight first-person shooters in offering free modes with unlockable progression.

Also Read: Microsoft Reveals 'Halo Infinite's' Content, To Come Soon on XBox, PC This Fall

The support aligns with last year's efforts to bring the PC version of "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" to full parity with its Xbox One and Xbox Series X counterparts, according to The Verge.

That included cross-platform multiplayer support for the first time, which arrived in November, together with the anthology's Xbox Series X launch.

Booty said that that they have been working closely with the PC community to ensure that "Halo Infinite" offers a premier PC experience, including highly desired features like a support for ultrawide and super ultrawide screens, triple key binds, a wide variety of advanced graphics options, and more. They want to make sure that "Halo" is serving the PC community.

The Xbox head added that Xbox Cloud Gaming, a feature of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, is a massive part of Microsoft's PC support, as it helps subscribers play over 100 console games on a wide range of computers, from lower-spec, entry-level machines to older devices that otherwise could not handle games that need more power.

Microsoft planned to launch "Halo Infinite" alongside the Xbox Series X and Series S in November, but reactions to a preview slice of the game's campaign sent developer 343 Industries back to the drawing board to polish and improve the games.

Microsoft announced in December that it had pushed back "Halo Infinite" to mid-2021.

'Halo Infinite' Design

"Halo Infinite" is making changes to the series' art direction, focusing on the simpler and iconic design of the original trilogy, but there is also a lot of work going into the game's sound, as noted by Game Spot.

In a new development video from Ask343, the audio design team talked about the iconic elements it's keeping from past games, including the classic charging sound of the Plasma Pistol.

It will also feature the ramping-up music that makes every battle feel climactic, building in an enormous crescendo as the action gets more intense.

The tools, including ones 343 created in-house, are used to keep track of what both players and the enemies are doing at all times in order to have the music play differently. This includes examining player-intention too.

If you are staying far away from some Elites as you snipe them, there won't be the same music as if you went in with guns.

The goal of the studio is for streamers and other video creators to be able to use all of it in their videos, instead of having to disable it to avoid takedowns.