You’d be forgiven for thinking that, after close to three months on the market, developer 343 Industries had all but wrapped up work on Halo: The Master Chief Collection. But given the multiplayer issues that clouded its tumultuous release, the studio is still massaging a lot of the intricate online systems with its remastered compilation.
And according to a recent post over on Halo Waypoint, 343 is prepping a patch that will see the biggest changes to the beleaguered matchmaking system to date, though the latest update is still without a release date.
“As this update contains the biggest changes to the Matchmaking system yet, we’ve identified that additional time and testing is required,” explained a new Halo Waypoint blog post.
“We are currently evaluating both timing and need for a CU [content update] beta with the Xbox One Preview program, as well as the final public release date in February. We’ll continue to provide the latest updates here on Waypoint.”
Initially, the developer had made plans to release the patch in beta form via the Xbox One preview community, but after careful consideration, 343 has now opted to forgo the pre-emptive release as such an approach would have proven to be too time-consuming.
“After further evaluation, the team has determined that that final testing for the content update will be completed internally, and we will not be conducting a beta test for the next CU [content update]. Also, it was determined that the additional time and work devoted to the beta would’ve actually postponed the public availability of the content update.”
Work on Halo: The Master Chief Collection is still a ways away from finishing, apparently, given that the studio is yet to implement featured playlists or the promised objective-only playlist into the final build. Alas, this has been the story of the compilation’s time on the market, with 343 putting out in-game fires left, right, and center by releasing a multitude of patches and updates.