Halo Infinite may be getting some form of a battle royale game mode according to a confirmation by games industry reporter Jez Corden on The Xbox Two podcast. According to him, they had been working on this game mode for over 2 years. While this may not be official, developer Certain Affinity had previously announced that it is working on something for Halo Infinite. The game mode is codenamed Tatanka, named for the wrestler with a career highlight of winning a 40-man battle royale in the WWF in 1992.
“This isn’t like a few game modes here or there, this is a big Call of Duty Warzone undertaking. It’s basically like a separate game,” said Corden. The goal of this mode is to bring new players to the Halo franchise and may potentially be an entirely separate side-game. While Halo offers Arena and Big Team Battle modes, a battle royale would target the Fortnite/Warzone/Apex Legends crowd. “I have received information that it is some form of battle royale,” Corden further confirmed. He is not sure about the details on whether it will be team-based like Apex or solo such as how Fortnite started before it added duos and squads. A battle royale in this franchise will likely hold its own twists rather than directly copying the other popular games. Certain Affinity will be in charge of this development while other Halo game modes are yet to be created and beloved classic modes are maintained for fans.
This news comes a month after 343 Industries released details on what is coming in Halo Infinite Season 2 ‘Lone Wolves’ which will arrive on May 3. This rumored battle royale may be set for Season 3 however, as there was no news of this game mode besides Last Spartan Standing and Land Grab. It could be presented at a later event, such as an Xbox Game Showcase, but Certain Affinity’s presence on Twitter is already a tell-tale for Halo Infinite’s battle royale, as well as Corden’s leak. A Forge mode was also projected to arrive around Season 3, and Corden mentioned the battle royale will tie into it. “User-generated content is going to be a core part of the experience supposedly,” Corden says.
The battle royale game mode is one of the biggest in the world. Players in the Halo community have already been clamoring for this to come to Halo Infinite for a while now, such as popular streamer Nickmercs tweeting that the game was a “flop” and a battle royale mode could give it the boost it needs to stay relevant. Otherwise, Halo Infinite had a strong launch in December but fell to the 18th best-selling game in the following month.