343 Industries has confirmed its withdrawing the dedicated playlist for Halo Infinite mode Land Grab.
In a brief statement about it on Halo Waypoint, 343i said that whilst it knew “many players have enjoyed this new mode”, it had been “steadily declining” and “starting to fall short of the quality bar”. Consequently, the dedicated playlist will be “rotated out” and will instead “roll into Quick Play” at the beginning of November.
“On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the dedicated Land Grab playlist will be rotated out of matchmaking,” the blog post reveals. “While we know many players have enjoyed this new mode introduced in Season 2, at this stage it’s been steadily declining and starting to fall short of the quality bar for a positive player experience.
“Land Grab will be back as part of the Entrenched event with Week 5 kicking off Sept. 27, and the final week slated to begin on Oct. 25. Looking further ahead, Land Grab will roll into Quick Play as part of the Winter Update coming Nov. 8.”
The same post also confirmed that The Yappening BTB “shenanigans will continue”, and reminded us that Last Spartan Standing was also removed as a dedicated playlist “due to it no longer sustaining a suitable level of engagement” at less than one per cent of all player activity.
It also ranked Halo Infinite’s playlists from most popular to least: Quick Play, Ranked Arena, Fiesta, Team Slayer, Big Team Battle, Tactical Slayer, Land Grab, Ranked Doubles, Team Doubles, Team Snipers, Rumble Pit, and Bot Bootcamp.
“Ever since Halo 2, matchmaking playlists have been at the heart of Halo’s online multiplayer and that remains true today in both MCC and Halo Infinite,” the post explains.
“Likewise, for as long as there have been Halo playlists, there have been rotational plans that see various modes coming and going at regular intervals. With Infinite, we haven’t seen a lot of rotations thus far, but as the team continues to amass a backlog of tried-and-true modes – along with brand new offerings – this will occur more regularly.”
The news comes just days after Bonnie Ross, the founder and head of Halo developer 343 Industries, announced her departure from the studio and Microsoft.
Ross, who also serves as Microsoft corporate vice president, has been the head of 343 Industries for 15 years, having established the studio – specifically to take over development of the Halo franchise from Bungie – back in 2007.
“While I had hoped to stay with Halo until we released the Winter Update, I am letting you know I will be leaving 343 and attending a family medical issue,” she explained on Twitter.
“I am incredibly proud of the work everyone at 343 Industries has done with Halo Infinite, the Master Chief Collection, the Halo television series and so much more. It has been an honour to serve alongside the team for the last 15 years and to be a part of a universe that I love.”
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