Halo Infinite Dev 343 Explains Shop Price Hike, ‘This Isn't Necessarily What Everyone Wants to Hear’

03.11.2023 - 15:19 / ign.com

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has moved to explain a recent microtransactions price hike following a community backlash.

Shop prices were raised after 343 added multi-core functionality to customization content. While the multi-core functionality was welcomed by players despite the price hike, 343 also raised the price of older content with the release of last month’s otherwise well received Season 5.

Halo fan XLR8 said: “Halo Infinite’s shop prices for S5 have been very disappointing, and even more so that they went back and increased old bundles. I’ve spent very little this season in comparison to S1-S4. Even as a frequent spender, lots of stuff simply isn’t worth the price.”

Its a really great way to undercut all the goodwill they gained at the launch of s5

Addressing the backlash and XLR8 directly, 343 community director Brian “ske7ch” Jarrard moved to explain what had happened by saying the developer is attempting to maintain a level of consistency across items in the store and for those items that will be multi-core enabled in the future. Here’s the statement in full:

It’s fair to say that despite this explanation, some Halo Infinite players are still upset at the price changes. Redditor NapkinLover69 called it “damn inflation hitting my digital items.” “They’re really using cross core to justify increased prices. Incredible,” added MonkeysxMoo35. “343i does realize we’re still buying one version of that item and are simply being allowed (only after we complained about it enough) to use it across eight cores, right? We’re not buying eight unique helmets/coatings/visors/shoulders, we’re buying a single thing that we can then use in eight different places.”

This touches on a long-standing complaint with Halo Infinite that revolves around the shooter’s core cosmetics system, which until recently restricted some items to a single core. Then there’s the complaint that digital items shouldn’t cost more just because they can be used across a larger number of core items.

“I don't agree with the logic that items being cross-core means they need to be more expensive,” MisterHotrod said. “Sure, I understand that people buying an item that's cross-core won't be as incentivized to buy as many items as they would if cross-core wasn't a thing, but that's assuming that players would actually spend the money on buying stuff for every core, which seems silly. They're also assuming that players will use that single item on multiple cores, which isn't necessarily the case either. And if they do, so what? That's still basing everything on the logic that more cross-core = fewer sales, which isn't necessarily true at all. Plus, it feels like they're punishing the player base for their mistake of not building the