Connectivity issues are not a new problem for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. When the game launched late last year, the remastered game package suffered severe matchmaking bugs that prevented many from playing online. While the game’s developer, 343 Industries eventually released fixes to help improve the online Halo experience for gamers, the server problems have never really been completely fixed and still affect gameplay as seen by the cancellation of the first cup in the second season of the Halo Championship Series, the official Halo eSports league which is run in association with ESL.
After the first cup of the second Halo Championship Series season began on April 25th, so many party joinability issues were encountered by participants that 343 and ESL decided to completely cancel the following day’s games, thus preventing the tournament from reaching its conclusion.
A brief apology was issued in a tweet on the official Halo Twitter account. “We’re aware of and investigating party joinability issues. As a result, we’ll be cancelling HCS Cup #1, and apologize for the inconvenience.”
The next patch for Halo: The Master Chief Collection is due next month and promises to improve online ranked play in addition to a new multiplayer map and Halo 3: ODST. Several bug fixes and overall game stabilization are also promised.
Further reading: eSports, Halo, Microsoft, Video Games, Xbox One
