Halo Infinite Technical Test Beta had PC and Xbox server issues

At 6:41 p.m. ET last night, fans are expected to donate Infinite halo a lap into the game’s first “tech test”. Instead, technical issues pushed the launch time back indefinitely by an unspecified amount. The problems with the test continued until Thursday evening and Friday morning.

Developer 343 Industries has planned a technical test, or “flight” (don’t call it a beta, because it isn’t) for Infinite halo to start yesterday afternoon PT and run until Monday morning PT. Shortly before the planned rollout, 343 Industries Community Director Brian Jarrard took to Twitter to manage expectations and detail a small problem that required resetting the flight servers. Then the big one: this hiccup actually need a “complete global server redeployment” meaning that the test wouldn’t start until PT evening. (343 Industries is based on the West Coast, Kotaku to the East.)

How to enter the Infinite halo flight

When the Infinite halo technical test is officially mounted at 9:19 p.m. ET, that wasn’t the case for all players. Unlike many pre-release tests, entering the Infinite halo flight isn’t as easy as going to the Xbox Microsoft Store and downloading an app. Rather, you had to fill out a registration form in advance. (343 Industries has consistently and vocally urged people to sign up over the past few weeks.) Then, if you get an email confirming you’ve been selected, you’ll need to head to Halo Waypoint—A hub site where players can check their Halo statistics, messages and more, and check your inbox for instructions on how to download.

Halo Waypoint struggled with the traffic crash last night as many users were unable to upload their messages or even log into the site. Jarrard directed fans to a dedicated Waypoint subsite, allowing approved testers to access instructions via FAQ. (Note: This URL will only work if you are approved for the Infinite technical test.) Short version: To get on the flight, you must be an Xbox Insider, open the Insider Hub app, review your featured previews, and select the Infinite halo option, provided you have been approved.

You know how it works: you press the “join” button. He goes through a moment of “waiting”. So you are in it. Pretty easy, right? The thing is, for many players, “on hold” has been on “on hold” for hours. Haloofficial support channel of urged players to practice patience, life’s rarest virtue, and “try again”. It should do it!

Read more: All your biggest questions about Infinite halo‘s multiplayer, answered

Kotaku had little luck last night. Zack Zweizen and I made several attempts to get in from roughly the starting gun and found ourselves stranded on a ‘pending’ screen. We even tried the old foolproof trick of “turning the console off then back on”. No dice.

At 11:46 p.m. ET, Zack still wasn’t able to enter. But this morning he told me he walked in around 12:35 ET. “I’m very excited to play more when it works better,” he said.

I did one last try around 1:00 am ET before throwing in the towel. This morning, I was finally able to queue the download (18.7 GB on Xbox) without resistance. It took a few minutes, but it finally worked. Before you ask, no, I haven’t had a chance to play yet, because: work.

So, everything is better now?

According to the Microsoft-approved official chains, Yes the Infinite halo the flight is going well. At 5:24 am ET, the Xbox Support Twitter account thanked players for their patience and noted that anyone “expecting to access Infinite halo via the Xbox Insider Hub app should no longer be stuck in a pending state.

Keep in mind, however, that these are official channels. On social networks, many hopeful players still report their Insider app was stuck on “pending,” claiming wait times of 7, 8, 9 or more hours. So maybe better (for some), but not yet perfect.

That said, anyone who expected perfection from a tech test – again, not even a beta – in the first place was destined for disappointment. The intention here was to test the capacity of the server and ensure that the infrastructure could support an influx of gamers for one of the most anticipated games of the fall. Much better to fix these issues now than on launch day, right? In addition, 343 Industries plans to perform more technical tests before launch, which has no date specified but its release is slated for later this year on Xbox and PC.