The Real Reason The Halo Subreddit Was Locked Down

While the game's online component has been out for weeks and its single-player campaign mode received praise from critics, "Halo Infinite" has had more than enough time to make an impression on the "Halo" series' fandom. So far, that impression seems to have mostly been a good one. However, there has been some criticism. For one, many of the game's community voiced either concern or displeasure with "Halo Infinite" apparently missing content from its multiplayer, with 14 multiplayer modes only being visible when player is offline on PC, according to Eurogamer. The game also launched without several features, which disgruntled even more players.

Though 343 Studios has done its best to placate gamers by reducing the game's grind when it comes to accumulating experience points (XP), other criticisms have been targeted towards the free-to-play model of "Halo Infinite," including the presence of a Battle Pass, paid cosmetics, events like "Fracture: Tenrai" going off the rails rather quickly, and a litany of other issues pertaining to the game's current state. Apparently, those discussions have already devolved into a complete mess of a situation, especially on the game's subreddit, which had to be shut down over the weekend due to several issues revolving around toxic discourse.

In response to the argument surrounding "Halo Infinite" rapidly devolving, the moderators on "Halo's" subreddit temporarily shut the space down due to what they called "toxicity on all sides." In an official statement, the subreddit's mods said that the discussion surrounding the game had gone too far and escalated to the point where doxxing and death threats became prevalent. "The amount of toxicity on the sub from both sides has made it impossible for people to have civil discussions, which is what the mod team strives for regardless of opinion," the moderators said. "Some users on the sub have even been responsible for doxxing and death threats. We're temporarily putting the sub on lockdown so people can hopefully settle down a bit and we can hit the reset button before launch." Importantly, the "Halo" subreddit is a fan-run endeavor, not a project affiliated with Bungie or 343 Studios.

The mods told the subreddit's users to "take the weekend off" before temporarily locking things down. As of Monday, the subreddit has been reopened. Already, the discussion around the game and its quality has started back up. One user, u/Gravegamer, has made a thread on "Halo's subreddit" stating that players shouldn't be forced to "lower [their] standards" just because the game is free-to-play. Others, such as u/DionStabber, disagreed with this argument, saying that the free-to-play model has boosted the player numbers of "Halo Infinite" and that not as many people would be playing had it been released for the standard price. Hopefully, the gaming community will be able to talk about the release civilly.