The technical test for the highly anticipated next installment in the Halo series, Halo Infinite, was scheduled to begin on July 29. The preview, which was not defined even as a beta, was planned to be a way for hardcore fans to involve themselves in the development of the game. It was supposed to launch at around 12 pm PT on July 29, but shortly beforehand, it was revealed that there had been a technical problem that required a full reset of the global server. Thus, the test release was delayed to later in the evening.
It is a technical test for a reason, and not a full launch of the game, so issues are to be expected, especially with the sheer amount of people attempting to play the game. The server went live for fans who had filled out a sign up form and qualified to participate at 9:19 ET, but not everyone was able to access the game. Many users had problems logging in, and once they were logged in, many of them were stuck on a “pending” screen for hours.
The Halo Team and 343 Industries Community Director Brian Jerrard remained communicative about the issues overnight as they were working to fix the issues, which were officially fixed at 5:24 am ET on July 30. It should be mostly working and accessible now, although it is still a tech test and will likely run into other issues. Halo Infinite plans on including fans in the production of the game in later steps as well, and there will likely be plenty of news and ways to interact with the game in the future, further along in its development. Halo Infinite is set to be released later in 2021, although there is no announced date for its launch.