After Game Informer announced that Halo 5: Guardians would be the cover story for July 2015, more details have surfaced from the articles, and content they have published. The magazine gives more information on the gameplay mechanics, and story that will progress over the course of the game.
With the announcements, it has been reported that the base game will ship with over 20 multiplayer maps, and will be supported until at least June 2016 with new content. By June 2016, we will have been given 15 additional maps, which will most likely be delivered in map packs of 3 or 5 maps. All of the maps added to the game post-launch will be free for all players.
This is a smart move by 343 Industries, and shows how dedicated they are to the community, and Halo franchise. After the launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, active player numbers have massively fallen, which is guaranteed to change with Halo 5: Guardians. With a popular beta, these regular, free content updates are sure to secure a larger playerbase, and keep an active community.
This also explains why the Limited Edition and Limited Collectors Editions of the game included no season pass.
Is this a good move by 343 Industries? Let us know in the comments!
Matt was a regular ICXM contributor in 2015, publishing 110 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One’s first full year of post-launch coverage, including the early days of Backwards Compatibility and Windows 10 gaming. They post on X as @RTEnvi.