Halo Infinite esports to feature cross-platform and cross-input competitions

In what's being considered a controversial decision from 343 Industries, the developers have announced that Halo Infinite esports will feature cross-platform and cross-input competitions, pitting Xbox, PC, controller, and mouse & keyboard users against one another.

The initial statement made via Twitter was followed up by a blog post on the official Halo Waypoint website going more in-depth explaining the reasoning behind the decision.

According to Tashi, Halo Esports Lead at 343, both online and LAN events will allow for cross-platform and cross-input competition. 

• Read more: Halo Infinite beta: How to sign up to Insider, release date and more

For offline tournaments, players that start from the open bracket will initially compete in Xbox Series X, which will run Halo Infinite at 120fps. If they make it to pool play/championship bracket, they will transition to PCs.

"To accommodate for players coming from the open bracket, they will be given an allotment of time and exclusive access to warmup PCs before jumping into their next matches to quickly acclimate," Tashi explained.

Naturally, in order for players to easily transition from console to PC play, 343 will give them freedom of choice when it comes to their preferred input, this means Xbox users will be able to play on mouse and keyboard and PC enthusiasts will be able to do the same with controller.

"We are going to allow players to compete on controller or mouse and keyboard regardless of platform. This means you might see entire teams on controller, entire teams on MKB, or teams with mixed MKB and controller players. We will also allow for MKB players to play on the Xbox Series X at live events if they’re in the open bracket."

It remains to be seen if aim assist won't become an issue down the line for Halo esports, as it's often the case with other titles that opt for cross-input play, such as Fortnite, with many fans expecting controller to dominate as the community grows.

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