Halo Infinite tech preview reportedly uncovers possible battle royale audio

A datamine of Halo Infinite’s technical preview has reportedly uncovered a possible nod towards a battle royale game mode.

A voice clip reportedly found in Infinite’s preview files – uncovered by Resetera – features Halo’s iconic announcer calling out the possible mode.

The presence of the clip within Halo Infinite’s files isn’t necessarily proof that a battle royale mode is in the works. It could be audio left over from cancelled content, or it could be related to something different entirely.

However, battle royale would appear to be a good fit for Halo Infinite, especially given that like many popular genre entries its multiplayer mode will be totally free to play and available on multiple Xbox consoles, PC and via cloud streaming on mobile devices.

Battle royale games have dominated a huge portion of the shooter market in recent years, with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds laying the groundwork for free-to-play hits Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty Warzone, which have hundreds of millions of registered players between them.

Way back in 2019, 343 Industries denied it was planning a battle royale mode for Halo Infinite. However, considering the significant upheaval in the game’s production since then, it’s possible those plans could have changed.

Halo Infinite’s first technical preview started earlier this week and ends today, Sunday, August 1. The playable preview is reserved for those who registered for the Halo Insider program.

The technical preview’s game files have reportedly uncovered more unannounced info this weekend, including suggestion that the game will feature multiple campaigns, FOV sliders in all versions and the ability to drop weapons in multiplayer.

On Saturday, developer 343 Industries warned players that the preview files had also “unintentionally” leaked spoilers from Infinite’s story campaign into the public domain.

“Hey folks, heads up: we unintentionally included a small number of Halo Infinite campaign files in the tech preview build. Unfortunately, these files contain spoilers,” warned head of creative Joseph Staten.

“Leaks like this are painful for the dev team and can ruin the campaign experience for everyone. So please, keep you eyes peeled for spoilers and don’t spread them if you see them.”