Halo Infinite's anti-cheat software will reportedly protect Xbox players from PC hackers. It had been previously revealed that Halo Infinite will have full crossplay and cross-progression between Xbox, PC, and xCloud. The choice fits with Microsoft's goal to integrate its console with the PC ecosystem, creating communities around games instead of platforms. Although the choice will probably build a broader community around Halo Infinite, bringing players together from across the gaming spectrum – from Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and cellular devices – it will elicit worry from fans who fear PC hackers will infiltrate the game. That, in turn, creates an additional challenge for the developers.
While crossplay has been considered a marketable feature in modern gaming, it does bring additional challenges. For instance, a keyboard and mouse have been demonstrated to be better than controllers. Because of the maneuverability of the mouse over a joystick, many players believe there is an inherent advantage while using the a mouse and keyboard. For competitive FPS games, this could produce a skill gap between those using a traditional PC control layout to those using the console controller. The Halo Infinite developers addressed that crossplay issue by creating three different competitive hoppers, the mouse and keyboard hopper, controller hopper, and crossplay hopper to provide players a choice. Another challenge when incorporating crossplay may be the increased existence of hackers on PC over consoles, which could modify the competitive atmosphere of a game. 343 Industries reportedly have an answer for that, too.
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To combat the PC hackers, the Halo Infinite devs developed an anti-cheat system that's supposed to protect Xbox players. Around the Halo YouTube channel, developers outlined the important thing philosophies behind Halo Infinite's anti-cheat software. Principal Software Engineer Michael Vankuipers claimed the team “made dedication early on that we don't want to have any complex DRM or anything that will inhibit a player's capability to play the way they would like to play,” but the team still believed it was important to create a comprehensive anti-cheat to protect Xbox players. The dev did remark that although the anti-cheat was important, “we wish to respect players' privacy, especially legitimate players' privacy. You know, we're going to continue to evolve it into whatever is necessary and whatever our players need to have a fair experience.”
Watch the PC Overview for Halo Infinite online here.
DRM or Denuvo Anti-Tamper technology has previously been criticized for high CPU usage in PCs, which can negatively affect gameplay while active. Decreased performance and privacy issues are often a typical concern when games utilize DRM anti-cheat. Reps from 343 Industries mentioned that the anti-cheat wouldn't have complex DRM, though that may still mean there's still some degree of DRM in place.
While crossplay has unique benefits such as shorter matchmaking wait times and a larger, connected community around a game title, it will elicit other difficulties. When it comes to Halo Infinite, it seems 343 Industries has made strides to safeguard Xbox players from PC hackers in order to legitimize the competitive atmosphere all around the game. Hopefully, it does the job without hampering performance.
