‘Halo Infinite’ update with Big Team Battle matchmaking improvements is now live

Developer 343 Industries has released the latest update for “Halo Infinite” that includes another patch attempting to fix the Big Team Battle mode. So far, it appears that the fix has been working as intended, unlike the studio’s earlier update.

The latest update for “Halo Infinite” went live on Thursday, with a list of fixes and improvements. But on top of that list addresses the issue in BTB matchmaking that plagued the fan-favorite game mode since the holidays last year. The patch notes did not say much about this particular patch, but 343 Industries said, “Players should find full matches quicker and more consistently.”

Not long after the launch of the free-to-play “Halo Infinite” online multiplayer, players started noticing that they were having difficulties using the BTB matchmaking features almost consistently. Others have also reported they were experiencing issues even when joining BTB matches with a group of friends, while in some cases the join-in-progress feature was not working properly.

The developers have been telling the “Halo” community that it is working on the issue since the holiday but admitted at the time that a fix would not be ready before the end of 2021. 343 Industries first attempted to fix the issue with a patch last month, but it was later found not working entirely to remove the bugs.

“Unfortunately it looks like today’s patch did not fully resolve the BTB matchmaking problems,” community director Brian “ske7ch” Jarrard said at the time. “The team is continuing to investigate and while we believe there may be some minor improvements, matchmaking is still not working as expected.” That makes the “Halo Infinite” patch this week the second attempt to fix BTB matchmaking.

The good news is the second attempt is already looking much more successful. Senior community manager John Junyszek tweeted after that patch was announced that the update is “looking good,” suggesting 343 Industries sees it is working as intended. Kotaku reported that it has been easy to join BTB matches after the update was deployed. Several comments in this r/Halo subreddit also seem to confirm that the latest “Halo Infinite” update is working.

Aside from fixing BTB matchmaking, 343 Industries also added some changes in the game mode in the Feb. 3 update. The developer says “Halo Infinite” players should see more of the Scorpion Tanks and Wraiths in BTB maps. Fireteam members will have the selected Fireteam Marker color even though players start in different areas of the map. The rules for join-in-progress were also updated so players cannot enter an almost finished match.