Cat Ears Have Some Players Worried About The Future Of Halo Infinite

Don't change the game's identity. Enough cash milking.

I'm not a fan of the cosmetic stuff and I won't be buying any of it but my kids, who love Fortnite, have spent loads on that so I could see them doing the same if they got into Halo. 343/MS will make a bucket load out of these things just not from me.

The cat ears look dope though, really wanna boot up the mp to get them lol. There's plenty of other things to worry about. @themightyant I wanted to say that as well but didn't know if it really was.

every micro trans is bad and its a cancer that grows every day
look what happend to other mp games over the years it must be pushed back every time

I would never buy cosmetics but if they gave away something for free that made me look stupid I would likely put it on my character to annoy people who take games too seriously.

It's cat ears, guys. It's not a big deal

The samurai looked cool and these do too. They are definitely walking a fine line with this but it will be entertaining to see how far it goes.

Hahah. This nonsense is what'll keep me from even downloading this game. I've never been a Halo fan but still... I imagine Call of Hello Kitty will introduce this next. Good for those who like it, I suppose, but I feel bad for die-hard Halo fans. Fortnitisation of other franchises continues to intensify.

I like the cat ears and I'm okay with silly looking Spartans. As long as they kind of resemble Spartans, though. I think snowman heads or having Superman as a playable character would be crossing a line.

The existence of the cosmetic itself is fine (don't agree with the pricing though) and given 343 decided to chase the Fortnite crowd when they made the multiplayer FTP, they may as well go all out on this kind of stuff.

That said, I have absolutely no interest in buying the cosmetics with real money so just like I skipped buying the battle pass I'll skip all the store content too. Campaign DLC (e.g. story expansions) will likely be my only Infinite purchases.

“Real fans,” ugh.

Honestly cat ears is one of the first things that's tempted me to play the game. Though I wouldn't spend $10 on them.

I'd love to see clown wigs added. Honk honk.

I don't know why so much complain about 'Halo Universe'. Its no like the cat ears are changing Halo lore or anything, it's just a cosmetic for multiplayer. I could understand if it was Master Chief wearing those cat ears, but it is not that. Don't have one yet 'cause the price is off, but don't see the problem at all with those kind of cosmetics, and by the number of people using it, most of them don't see a problem either.

Everyone can make their own choice on the cat ears, but if I see a 7ft Spartan wearing them they're going to get a punch after I've knocked them into the dust 🤣

@themightyant There is absolutely nothing "gatekeeping" about this.

They literally released a half finished game, full of bugs, after a year additional delay. And as of this point the only thing they've been doing is pushing the cash shop.

Even going so far as delaying features like forge and coop. And when called out the excuse was that it wasn't technically delayed. Just the season it was supposed to launch with.

Even basic game modes it did ship with, IE Big Team Battle, have been broken one way or another since launch.

All of this being said, kind of mind blowing THIS is what people say is trying to court the Fortnite crowd. You know, instead of the predatory microtransactions in lieu of the previously established customizations features.

At the end of the day, after 3 botched games, 343 has just shown, once again, that they should've never been given Halo to begin with.

I don’t get the hate. I won’t be buying them but I support people’s choice to wear them.

TBH Halo jumped the shark on armour when Halo 3 included the hayabusa armour and that’s fine but let’s not pretend like this is a new thing.

I mean Halo has had confetti popping out with children yelling "Yeyyyyyy!!!!!" when you get a head shot before so I'm not understanding the "keep it canon" argument here. I personally have no interest in cat ears but give my Spartan floppy dog ears and you got me!

What shocks me the most is the price.

Everything else is a matter of choice, of taste...

But the price ! Seriously ? Should be cut by 50%. At least.

I just don’t understand purists.

What did they want? All cosmetics to just look the same? This sounds to me like the same group of people that complained about the last set of skins added to the MCC.

As for price, if anyone is aiming to “own all skins” I can see how this pricing will make that impossible, but these kind of games have not been about owning everything. The expectation is once in a while a player will see something cool and they feel they want it, so they toss a few bucks at the game they will likely be playing for years to come.

Don’t like them so I don’t buy them.
Don’t care if others do tbh
Bring on the dog ears!

Listen old guard folks, the gameplay is tight and that's the biggest thing for any game. The cosmetics is just what the industry is doing and do long as it's Sparta armour i don't care. If you don't like the car ears just shoot and kill the spartan with the cat ears....very satisfying actually.

Personally this is the best multiplayer shooter I've played and it doesn't bother me what others are spending money on. The gameplay is great and that's the most important...to me at least.

Meow meow

Edit: the campaign is where the lore and core Halo armour should be preserved. I'd be upset if car ears showed up on the Master Chief

Anything else halo fans want to complain about?

@themightyant Gatekeeping is: "hurr de durr I don't like this because I don't like this."

Gatekeeping is not: "These developers really have prioritized microtransactions to the point that the base game itself is neglected and ultimately worse off for it."

@Krzzystuff What is "tight" about some of the worst driving land vehicles since Halo 4, entire missing game modes, game modes that haven't worked since launch, constant desync issues, and tons of cheaters we wouldn't have to deal with if we could just disable cross play?

@InterceptorAlpha
I'm curious what's broken or buggy in mp, as I have put around 60 hours into mp and the only thing I have run into the rare I go for a back smack or punch and it kinda goes through the player. It also appears many forgot all the glitch's and bugs we have had with other halos (I'm looking at halo 2 when it launched) that at times game was unplayable due to every player glitching or using an exploit

On topic I am not sure what true "fans" want from 343 or Ms for this. As someone who considers himself a diehard halo fan I am a bit confused

I assumed when we knew it was going f2p we knew this meant some odd 10.00 skins people would wear. And honestly we should all be fine with this, who cares if someone is wearing cat ears it supports the game you wanna play no one is forcing it on your character.

I wouldn't pay for them. But I approve of the cat ears.

@Terrin I'm not quite sure why you need to be curious when the issues have been covered ad nauseum both here and other websites.

The game shipped with no anti cheat software, at the infinite intelligence of 343. Cheaters are prolific due to this. This has been covered here.

Horrific desync issue where two players are in two totally different parts of the map depending on whose screen you observe. Also covered here.

Matchmaking issues introduced from the last update resulting in error after error of games not loading in. Again, covered here. And added further problems in top of the aforementioned desync issues.

If you're wanting to use Halo 2 as an example, atleast from launch, I could reliably do matchmaking~1 week after launch. Still not possible in Infinite. Or reliable custom games from the get go. Also not possible on Infinite.

@iplaygamesnstuff profile picture checks out.

@InterceptorAlpha sorry your having issues guess we just had different experiences.
As said I'm at 60+ hours in mp playing a few hours daily and have only ran into a issue where we had to reboot the game as gave a weird server cycle error when trying to load a list.
My experience with halo 2 a week after launch was sword lunges ruining the game and also the entire pull Ethernet cable put back in ever 2nd match where it would just have you sit there while the one guy who pulled the cable killed you/stole the flag so once it resyncee you just died or it insta scored on you.
So sorry I know issues have been reported but like alot of things it can be kinda blown out of proportion, and I guess it's just my mentalty for cheating it's invitiable anymore battleflied 2042 and cod had cheats up before the betas where over. (I also maybe have run into a cheater that I can 100% confirm like 2 times)
so maybe our experiences are different or what you consider a buggy is just at ends,

Got to be honest, I never played Halo multiplayer, and wasn't super interested in it overall, but I was still tempted to jump in and check it out at some point after all the discussion. I don't care about cosmetics, buying cosmetics, and overall don't care if others hate money and want to pay for my games for me. But....after seeing the cat ears, I'm now 99.9% certain to never touch the multiplayer with a barge pole. If it can't even be consistent to its theme, I really have no desire to engage with what's basically just a carnival of silliness like Fortnite. I play Splatoon online, the only online shooter I play, but while it's cutesy and silly, it's consistent with its own theme and universe. This really isn't, and it ruins the fun for me if it's not consistent within its own universe. It's too much "real world and stupid people" for my tastes.

Pizza slice gun skins were a different thing. It's literally like a custom finish on a gun. I can see military types getting silly with custom gun finishes, even if it's not a current real world GI thing to do. In a far flung desperate future or world of mercs, it seems like a sensible concept. Not unlike the pin-up girls on WWII airplanes and faces on the fighters and bombs. That's a whole different thing than armor designed for Kajiit in a world that doesn't have Kajiit.

How dare these video games be fun!

@NEStalgia Khajiit has interdimensional wares if you have coin.

@InterceptorAlpha LOL, that wins the internet. At least the green part of it.

Inb4 Halo gets Horse Armor.....literally armor that makes you look like a horse.....

It looks like 343i just can't catch a
f*****g break. Every week we are treated to several negative articles about the "interverse" having some sort of meltdown about Halo Infinite. Incredibly, complaints about the game play are pretty much non existent, you know, the most important part which is fantastic by the way 😀. I also find it very interesting that some of the Sony zealots from PushSquare are always showing up in these articles, what gives 😅?

@InterceptorAlpha actual gameplay is fantastic. Don't know how else to say it. It just feels great

If I were good at the game, I'd buy them. Nothing more embarrassing then getting destroyed by a guy with cat ears (which is exactly what happened to me last night)

@Krzzystuff

"actual gameplay is fantastic. Don't know how else to say it. It just feels great"

You can se by @InterceptorAlpha's comments he's not interested in the fantastic game play Halo Infinite has, but rather indulge in self-righteous indignation at anything related to 343i or MS for that matter 😉.

Halo is so ***** bland and without any character. I am happy this gets added.

@Sol4ris
Being an all console owner and playing Halo campaign, yes the gameplay is great love the grappling hook etc. But this game campaign wise especially environmentally and graphically feels last generation, it could and should have been so much more, especially after 6 years.
It should have been Microsoft’s HZDFW but instead it’s a great gameplay fps wise, last generation with a bit of farcry and that’s is basically it.
If didn’t have the Halo franchise and of course the grunts, it probably would have been on the to play list.

Fortnite? I've been saying this for weeks now! The whole free to play move WAS to chase the fortnite money.

Maybe I should have a job here in this site? Oh wait. Am I able say that? The mods here been on quite the crusade as of late.

@Sol4ris What point is fantastic game play if the game is broken to the point that it can't be properly enjoyed?

I'm very curious to hear your explanation.

Unless of course you think that getting stlniped with an assault rifle firing full auto from across the map with an aim bot is fun.

Or pulling up beside a buddy trying to get them in the warthog, but they have no idea what is going on because they're half way across the map doing something else. Surely you don't find desyncing fun too?

I'm sorry, but I'll never be a blind fanboy to brand nor product.

It is super strange seeing people get offended for companies that don't care about you past the money you're going to spend.

@InterceptorAlpha but gameplay is the actual game and what matters? The graphics are great and from the little bit of the campaign that i played it's also great.

We can have different opinions but I'd rather have a great game with optional cosmetics that i don't care for vs. a crap game with a cool skin... wouldn't you?

@Krzzystuff I am literally talking about gameplay. What do hackers and glitches that ruin good gameplay have to do with cosmetics?

If you're so miserable of a person as to the fact other people are enjoying a thing and because of it you need to post on the internet about how angry you are about them enjoying it, you should focus on improving yourself.

@InterceptorAlpha Interesting comments about desync, matchmaking, and hackers. That's always been life with Splatoon, but it's one of those things you shrug off because it's Nintendo, and "Nintendo doesn't get this whole internet thing still." It's not something you expect from a game called Call of Duty or Halo.

Also interesting comment on the vehicles. I thought it was just me because I played it right after FH5 and it's hard to go from perfection in vehicles to Halo that's always been....err...unique. But they're super floaty, moon bouncy, and slide like the Ring is made of Crisco. Maybe it's not just me.

@Darthroseman

@NEStalgia Nintendo can't online. And honestly, I'm fine with it at this point. I love my switch and know what to expect from it. Games like Halo, I hold to a higher standard.

With vehicles, air are great. The ground vehicles still feel slightly off though. Part of it has to do with how claustrophobic vehicle maps are in general. One map just has a big ring around the level you can drive in. The other has slightly wider than warthog paths. Just doesn't seem well thought out.

I actively avoid vehicles in general. Ghosts sit lower than my dropped 97 Cabrio, and get hung up and stuck on the tiniest of rocks.

The Scorpion is harder to steer than a loaded semi on a iced over hill. Seriously, if you're lucky to get it going a direction, you best keep it that way, even if you're moving backward.

Warthogs just seem overall allergic to being driven in general. And want to bounce more than a car in GTA being enjoyed by a "lady of the night".

And the Mongoose is somehow a combination of the Ghost's and Warthog's issues. Simultaneously wanting to bounce like a rabbit in heat while wanting to do a crash test on any rock that comes within 0.117 meters of the tires.

"One common suggestion seems to be for 343 to allow players to turn off cosmetics — similar to the toggle option in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. And on the other side of the fence, many have reminded everyone how Halo has always had a bit of a silly side over the years, like the pizza slice gun skin in Halo 5: Guardians."

And Players complained about those cosmetics too.

The issue here (besides microtransactions being a predatory, exploitative, and game design breaking practice) is art consistency and suspension of disbelief.

If Kratos or Andrew Ryan ran around with cat ears, it would stick out like a sore thumb.

Granted this is more serious in campign modes, but when every game is a neon coloured, cat eared experience, these games lose their identity and uniqueness.

They lose their artistic identity.

@InterceptorAlpha I LOLed with that! It really is true, and I also avoid them. I've honestly found, in the campaign, that walking and using the grappling gets you anywhere in half the time of any of the ground vehicles. The vehicles you just spend most of your time getting caught on rocks and flipping the thing back over. In Bungie Halo the vehicles got you around places faster. In Infinite they feel like amusing playthings if you want to take your time and see the sights. Gone are the days of using a warthog with mounted turret to clear entire levels, that's for sure!

@Richnj "art consistency and suspension of disbelief" Nailed it! For my pov at least. I don't even mind the pizza gun. Like I said, it's believable in the universe. I can see a bunch of marines sitting around the Forward Unto Dawn mess hall eating their ration packs talking about "remember pizza, you know, back on Earth?" And that leading to someone making a pizza paint job on their gun. Because in Halo's world, Earth is gone the war is being lost, badly, and their guns are pretty much all they've got left. If humans painted pin-ups on their warplanes in the 20th century, they can paint food on their rifles in the 24th, believably.

6 million dollar power armor for a hundred or less engineered last hope supersoldiers being modeled with cat ears that increase their surface area and raise visibility as though camo shouldn't exist just because it's funny......not seeing that one in-universe....

It sounds uptight, but you play Halo to play in the world of Halo and it's lore. Otherwise it's just kind of a "generic shooter engine" without a particular theme or environment. This is month one. What will be "Halo" about it in 3 ears if this keeps up?

I don't play the multi, so I don't have a horse in the race, but It certainly wouldn't appeal to me to play it like this.

Then again, how much are you putting down on the table that TLoU2 multiplayer has cowboy, animatronic bear, and Wonder Woman crossover skins for sale in their zombie apocalypse? I'll see your bet and raise you $50.

343 has bungled everything and I mean EVERYTHING about this game. After a full year's delay, not only did they launch it without local splitscreen multiplayer/co-op or the Forge, but their focus on monetizing skins over the core of what makes a Halo game couldn't be more obvious. The problems surrounding Halo Infinite have to do far more with 343's priorities than with COVID or any other excuse. And they deserve to be called out on it.

& an iron man colour for 2000 credits 😂

I just laugh people actually spend money on this stuff. Don’t fault 343/Microsoft for making money off something I have zero interest in.

@NEStalgia Now I'm dreaming of a universe where armour customisation in Halo went the decal route instead of the skin route. Including a rifle decal that is a roman numeral kill counter that actually works and updates in game.

But I'm not a game designer, so my ideas are clearly not good.

@Richnj who would buy custom kill counters and insignia when you could dress as a pirate in cow spot camo armor with a knitted purple "I heart corgis" scarf? Lame! 🙄

I mean, maybe the game would be a fun platform for a genre mashing silly dress up hero shooter.... But... Why call it halo instead of launching a new IP? The gameplay may be great, but if I wanted to play a comical mashup hero shooter, I'd probably play overwatch or Fortnite... Why Halo?

I guess it makes money, clearly so I guess they know the market better than we do... But it devalues the brand long term imo.

A month ago, cosmetics were boring and uninspiring.
Seems they can't win.

I have been playing the game for a while now and I gotta ask, is there a way to unlock credits by playing the game? If not, what is the purpose of credits and why not just list the price? It seems kinda manipulative.

Doesn’t affect gameplay, so I don’t care. This is the sort of thing that will be done to attract paying players. In f2p, those are the people that support the game. If people hate it or think it’s too expensive, they won’t buy them.

IM A FAN OF HALO AND I BOUGHT THEM HAHA KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING 343!

@themightyant I don’t like either. I think halo has its own identity and should build on that. Not try and add stuff just to milk cosmetics. I don’t think it qualifies as gatekeeping. Wanting halo to maintain a look that fits its universe makes sense. I don’t want scooby doo or Ariana Grande turning up either. Same as in a Star Wars game. You don’t need to try and appeal to a wider base. Do what you do it’s good enough.

@Hypnotoad107 by that logic “it’s doesn’t effect game play” you can have any art direction or in fact no skins at all. Just have the models and the frames bare.

The look and atmosphere of a game is everything. I don’t want crazy stuff taking me out of a game. If it’s in other people solo games fine. Have what you like but to have strange costumes in the middle of well established universe just ruins immersion.

Welcome Fortnight players! We love your FOMO money, the free maps it brings, and the fact that you'll pad our KD ratio for months to come!

It's a F2P game. How do people expect the dev to turn a profit?
Would I buy them myself? No. Are they doing any harm? No.
Worst case, you could buy using MS Rewards.
All I do agree that the prices seem inflated for what you get. They do need to lower them in line with other F2P games.

Halo is a very serious medium for serious people. It’s only for groan ups you see. We’ll have none of that silliness here!

These customizations are destroying the aesthetic of the game. It feels like they're burning the house down to make some fast cash.
They're going to chase the diehards away with this crap. Who will be left once the novelty has worn off and people move on to the next hot f2p shooter?
I personally don't like infinite mp at all. To me it's a big drop in quality from halo 5 so I won't be around to see it happen..

I'm not buying Halo Infinite until the co-op is functional.

I don't see anything wrong with it. I just wouldn't buy it. I don't even play halo.

1. It's a bit of a laugh. Some people need to lighten their mood.

2. It's difficult for a lot of gamers to hear but most people play Fortnite because it's a really a fun game with a nice adventuring aspect and an utterly chaotic gameplay loop.

3. Seriously, it's a laugh.

As long as they call the resulting skin "Meowster Chief", I'm a cool cat with it.