The rumors were true. At the end of Xbox’s 20th Anniversary livestream today, 343 Industries officially announced that Halo Infinite’s free-to-play, cross platform multiplayer mode is releasing today. That’s almost an entire month ahead of the campaign’s Dec. 8 planned release.
The release, officially a multiplayer beta, begins with season one of the next installment in the 20-year-old FPS series. Titled “Heroes of Reach,” all progress and unlocks will carry over to the full release. You can watch the season one launch trailer below.
Rumors began swirling over the weekend as listings for the title on various platforms changed, with some speculating that Halo Infinite would make a surprise release in some capacity today as part of the anniversary event. Nov. 15 is not only the anniversary of the Xbox, but Halo: Combat Evolved as well.
The release comes at an opportune time for players looking to sink into an FPS for the season. Call of Duty: Vanguard was met with middling reviews while early impressions of Battlefield 2042 don’t exactly have fans hyped. First impressions of Halo Infinite were met with similar disappointment at Xbox’s E3 presentation last year, which resulted in a year-long delay and an overhaul of the game’s art direction. 343 Industries would begin publicly testing the game’s multiplayer in July using a far-from-complete build of the mode.
You can play the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta now on PC via Steam and Game Pass and on the Xbox family of systems for free beginning today. Campaign mode is still scheduled to release on Dec. 8 for purchase and on Game Pass.