Highlights

  • Fans are unhappy with 343 Industries' decision to increase prices for microtransactions in Halo Infinite's in-game shop, with the new flood-themed armor kits and coatings being an additional cost.
  • Despite the price hike, Halo Infinite has regained the favor of gamers with a thriving custom games browser, more game types, and addressing long-standing complaints by lowering the price of items and adding cross-core customization.
  • 343 explains the increase in prices is justified by the addition of cross-core customization, allowing items to be used on all armor cores. However, the price hike has caused some fans to question the goodwill and trust 343 Industries had recently regained.

Fans have criticized 343 Industries’ decision to hike the prices of microtransactions in Halo Infinite’s in-game shop. Season 05 has brought new flood-themed armor kits and coatings to the game, all at an additional cost.

After a troubled launch and plummeting player count, Halo Infinite has experienced a return to the good graces of its gamers. With a thriving custom games browser and far more game types for players to choose from, Infinite has finally found its feet. In recent seasons, the developers addressed many of the long-standing complaints from the Halo community, lowering the price of items in the store and adding cross-core customization for helmets and visor colors.

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Season 05: Reckoning launched on October 17, bringing two new maps, a reimagining of Halo 4’s Extraction mode, and impressive new flood-themed armor kits. However, these new cosmetic bundles come at a premium, as 343 Industries has increased the prices of shop items. For instance, the featured "Transgressor" bundle, which includes one flood-infected armor kit and a color scheme usable on all cores, currently costs 2200 credits – around $20.00. Disgruntled fans have flocked to social media to voice their frustration at the price hike. "Halo Infinite’s shop prices for S5 have been very disappointing," said Halo fan XLR8 on Twitter, "lots of stuff simply isn’t worth the price."

Brian “ske7ch” Jarrard, 343’s community director, replied to XLR8 on Twitter, stating that "prices on many offers have changed in conjunction with multi-core functionality being added to customization content." This highlights a controversial aspect of Halo Infinite’s customization. Each new season has brought with it a new armor core with a distinct aesthetic. Until recently, individual pieces of armor were not cross-core compatible, meaning that players’ options for creating their dream Spartan were limited compared to previous games in the franchise.

With Season 05’s addition of cross-core customization, 343 appears to be justifying the price hike by the fact that items purchased will be available to use on all armor cores. To some extent, this seems justified as developers will have more work to do to make each piece compatible with each core. Many fans do like the look of the new cosmetics, and more items are constantly being added to the game, such as Master Chief's upcoming Combat Evolved armor. However, only helmets, visors and armor coatings are currently compatible with all cores, and to many in the fanbase this price hike has served to undo much of the goodwill and trust that 343 only recently regained.

Even though many players are not happy with the state of Halo Infinite’s shop, the game is still enjoying its highest player count in months. This is partially due to Forge, Halo's impressive in-game map editor, and the new AI toolkit introduced in Season 05 which allows gamers to create their own versions of the fan-favorite ‘Firefight’ mode first seen in Halo 3:ODST.