343 Industries has announced an update for Halo Infinite’s Ranked Arena playlist, removing Capture the Flag on Behemoth. The change doesn’t require any update to be downloaded. Senior community manager John Junyszek revealed the reasons behind the change in an official forum post.
Citing data that showcased the map to be not be performing “as intended” in Ranked, Junyszek said “Most of this data revolves around spawning and effective cover around the map. Spawning on the perimeter of the bases with a direct line of sight to the flag stand, in addition to BR 75 starts, is creating a more frenetic match pace than desired. This leaves players feeling that even a well-coordinated team push into the enemy base can fall apart quickly; resulting in flag pulls being much more difficult than they should be.”
It also doesn’t help that players find themselves respawning in unpredictable locations, whether they’re on the attacking or defending side. The lack of cover throughout also doesn’t help especially when being pelted by Battle Rifles from all sides. For now, 343 Industries will be taking time to address these issues and “make changes to improve the ranked Behemoth experience.
“If we are confident that we are able to do so successfully, and verify that through rigorous testing, then we will consider adding it back into the ranked experience in the future.”
Halo Infinite is currently available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC with its multiplayer being free-to-play. It’s the biggest launch in the series’ history with over 20 million players till date. Stay tuned for more details on future updates and content.