In the new blog post for Halo Waypoint, 343 wrote about a few of the upcoming updates for both Halo Infinite and Master Chief Collection, in particular, the Season Points, which are coming to the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, are going to be renamed to Spartan Points and will be available for purchase through microtransactions. 343 Industries revealed that they are playing around with the idea of having a microtransaction system tied to the Spartan Points within the game.
In a follow-up post, 343 also stated that 343 is happy for now with the way players are earning Spartan points via the game’s challenges, and the purpose behind making them purchasable is to provide players with more options. A new Waypoint post explained the team is exploring adding Spartan points for purchase, to accommodate fans that would like to buy cosmetic items rather than grinding for existing season updates and earning them through gameplay, as it seems.
It is not clear at this time whether/when those new Spartan Points will be made available, but Halo MCC communities are already nervous at the thought of introducing microtransactions into Halo: The Master Chief Collection. If implemented, the 343 Industries stated these Spartan Points would be additive, and would not impact the way players are able to earn points now through leveling up and doing in-game challenges.
To keep new players from falling behind as they lack time to grind and make up lost ground against the more well-equipped veterans, an optional microtransaction could one day become available, accessible by purchasing the new-named Spartan Points. In the interest of transparency with our dedicated and passionate community, 343 Industries wanted to let you know about this research early on and to offer reassurances that the microtransactions will be a complementary feature. The process is still the same, players earn points through gameplay and can use them to buy new cosmetics and other aspects, but 343 Industries is internally considering making this a trade-off players can use the real-world currency.
While the statement makes clear that buying Spartan points would be optional, microtransactions like these have traditionally raised eyebrows from those who feel some games are balanced in such a way as to incentivize players to pay real cash in order to obtain a particular item before it is gone. With Spartan points, players can obtain any one of over 1,000 customization items added in The Master Chief Collection ranging from armor and armor effects, nameplates, attachments, weapons, vehicle skins, and more including items from past seasons all without having to grind to acquire them.
