CouRageJD’s demands for Halo Infinite battle royale has fans torn

Bill Cooney

Twitch star Jack “CouRage” Dunlop said he really wants to see a battle royale mode in the upcoming Halo Infinite game, but not everyone seems to be on board.

One of the biggest games we’re looking forward to this year is Halo Infinite. It was originally supposed to arrive as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, but its release was delayed until Fall of 2021.

After a cryptic tweet from Halo devs 343 Industries at the end of February, speculation about a potential battle royale mode coming to Infinite spread like wildfire.

CouRage, a longtime Halo fan/player and known battle royale aficionado, said on March 7 that without a BR mode included at launch, Infinite could end up being “one of the greatest gaming failures in history.”

“I’ve played Halo since 2003, It’s my favorite game series of all-time,” CouRage wrote on Twitter. “If Halo Infinite doesn’t release with a robust and well made Battle Royale game mode, then it will be one of the greatest gaming failures in history. Have a good day.”

The Halo series hasn’t had any kind of battle royale game mode before, consisting of the regular multiplayer modes that have been around for years like Arena, Headhunter, Stockpile, Capture the Flag, and others. A lot of people, including esports commentator Alex “GoldenBoy” Mendez, questioned whether or not it’s really needed to make the game a success.

“It could also just be a good MP game too, right?” they asked. “I feel like that’s a bit higher on my list than a BR. Like sure, make a BR but if the game ain’t good then it doesn’t matter if it has a BR or not.”

CouRage replied that being Halo, he already expects great multiplayer to come with Infinite. However, he wants to see a fleshed-out BR because, “it will bring Halo a brand new audience and that’s what the franchise needs on top of the already existing player base.”

Other fans seem like they would be just fine without any kind of BR in Infinite, and complaining about the amount of content creators that apparently would write the game off as a failure if it didn’t.

“If I see one more content creator say Halo Infinite without a battle royale is a “failure” then im boutta go insane,” Halo meme account JoshsHaloMeme’s said, before realizing that it was trending.

No one will argue battle royales like Warzone, Apex Legends, and Fortnite aren’t still alive and kicking, but for every successful BR it seems there are multiple examples of games that have tried to do the genre and failed.

Firestorm, Hyperscape, Spellbreak, The Culling 2, and Realm Royale are just a few of the free-for-all style games that came out with plenty of potential and hype (except for The Culling 2, which was just a royal mess) only to be seemingly forgotten by the general gaming public a short while later.

343 definitely seems to be hinting at a battle royale mode coming with Halo Infinite, which as CouRage said could be great to pull new players in and expose them to the game if it’s done well. But it remains to be seen if that will actually happen, or if people will just try it out and then just go back to Warzone.

About The Author

Bill is a former writer at Dexerto based in Iowa, who covered esports, gaming and online entertainment for more than two years. With the US team, Bill covered Overwatch, CSGO, Influencer culture, and everything in between.