Halo Infinite’s second Multiplayer Tech Preview severely limits matchmaking opportunities

It will only be accessible at certain times on certain days.
Image via 343 Industries

Details have been announced regarding the second multiplayer technical preview for Halo Infinite, and it looks as though opportunities for matchmaking will be severely limited in order to stress test servers. Matchmaking will not only be accessible for just six days across two weekends, but it will also only be available for eight hours on those days.

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343 Industries revealed the restrictive timeslots in September’s Inside Infinite post over on the Halo blog. The second multiplayer tech preview will run through the weekends of September 23 to 26 and September 30 to October 3. However, 343 points out that “daily matchmaking windows for both weekends will be 10am-2pm PT & 5pm-9pm PT on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of each flight.” That amounts to eight hours of matchmaking across six days, or 48 hours total of availability.

Some fans were disappointed at both the limited time that matchmaking would be available and the lack of attention toward time zones outside of the US. When Halo community manager John Junyszek clarified on Twitter that these times are the only opportunities players will have to matchmake (with bots or humans), Australian Halo YouTuber Mint Blitz responded, “You’ve gotta be joking?”

Indeed, the 10 AM to 2 PM PT slot is during the early morning hours of 3 AM to 7 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time. For players in the UK, the latter slot of 5 PM to 9 PM PT happens from 1 AM to 5 AM British Summer Time.

While 343’s decision not to stress test different regions at peak hours is frustrating to many, Halo community director Brian Jarrard responded to Mint Blitz, “Understand folks will be upset as obviously people want to play as much as possible but this is still technical in nature and a preview, not a marketing/pre-order Beta, etc. Good news is only a few months to go at this rate.”

For now, it seems players will have to schedule around the current time slots if they want to check out matchmaking during Infinite’s second tech preview.


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Caleb Greer
Caleb Greer is the Weekend Editor at ProGameGuides.com, a Contributing Writer at Gamepur.com, and co-host of The X-Block Podcast, a weekly podcast all about Xbox. Caleb got his start writing gaming news for TrueAchievements.com in 2018 while finishing his Bachelor's Degree in History. In 2020, Caleb completed his Master's Degree in History while working for AmeriCorps to solve problems in his community. It wasn't long before Caleb started reporting news for ScreenRant.com as a freelance writer. Soon after, Caleb landed his current positions under the GAMURS Group umbrella. Caleb is a life-long achievement hunter over on Xbox, but his gaming knowledge and experience stretch far beyond Microsoft's ecosystem. If he's not writing news, he's probably playing Halo or watching Dragon Ball Z. You can find him on Twitter @XBlockCaleb.