Halo pros slam 343 as $250k HCS Major to be played on ‘broken’ patch

343 Industries have confirmed that the upcoming HCS Charlotte Major 2023 will go ahead on a bugged version of Halo Infinite, revealing the “difficult decision” on February 17. 

The Halo Championship Series 2023 Kickoff Charlotte Major is set to take place from February 24 – 26, offering the best Halo teams from across the globe their share of the $250,000 prize pool. 

While the typical pre-tournament excitement is setting in, there have been some reservations about in-game issues caused by the February 15 update. 

Specifically, the update resulted in an “unintended bug” relating to Capture the Flag and Oddball, both of which are HCS game modes. There is now a slight delay for players when dropping the flag or the ball. 

Resultantly, debates had arisen over whether 343 would patch the problems ahead of the HCS Charlotte Major. However, the devs have now confirmed that won’t happen, revealing the “difficult decision” to “proceed as-is”. 

Tahir ‘Tashi’ Hasandjekic, Halo Esports Lead at 343, said: “While the most recent update brought a lot of important positive changes to the game, it also brought an unintended bug which causes a slight delay when dropping the Flag or Oddball.”

He explained that the tight turnaround presented by the tournament’s dates makes a hotfix impossible to implement. 

We've reviewed every potential avenue for fixing/reverting in time for Charlotte and have made difficult the decision to proceed as-is.

— Tashi (@Tashi343i) February 17, 2023

He highlighted that the bugs are “consistent and predictable” and that “all teams are impacted equally”. As a result, they will compete on an imperfect but level playing field. 

Tashi finished: “Any further action would pose risk for a greater negative impact to the event itself given timelines and/or the upcoming release of Season 3.” 

While not ideal we know, the issue is consistent and predictable, and all teams are impacted equally. Any further action would pose risk for a greater negative impact to the event itself given timelines and/or the upcoming release of Season 3.

— Tashi (@Tashi343i) February 17, 2023

There were a variety of responses to Tashi’s announcement. 

Sentinels’ Spartan described it as “unacceptable”, a sentiment echoed by Lethul, who said: “The mental gymnastics required to come up with that statement is insane.” 

Others, like Native, demanded a reversion, asking the devs to wait until after the competition to implement the update. 

Despite the protests, it looks like the Major will go ahead with the bugged game modes. It is set to kick off on February 24.