The multiplayer video game ecosystem has rapidly evolved throughout the last ten years. At first, when the trend became hot, most games tried to shoehorn a multiplayer mode in somehow. That slowly evolved into the games as a service genre we have seen today and it looks like Halo Infinite is following suit.

Per Gamespot, Microsoft is looking to hire a "Live Design Lead" that will develop strategies to keep players playing and interacting with Halo Infinite after launch. The job encompasses everything from game progression, social media engagement, and even some form of microtransaction strategy. In the job ad, one line states: "Design and deliver a AAA player investment experience that focuses on our fans and their desire to express their passion for our franchise (including but not limited to microtransactions)."

With the recent shift to a GaaS genre, it does not surprise me that Halo Infinite will try to hop on the bandwagon as well. Since the explosion of Fortnite, many games are trying to capture that magic once again. Plus, Halo 5 (which was one of the best multiplayer experiences in the franchise) included microtransactions, so this wouldn't be a first for the series.

However, there is a much deeper problem for the gaming industry rather than the multiplayer genre explosion. Video games are getting outrageously expensive to develop and take a lot of time and resources to make. Since there really hasn't been a change in the base price for a game in quite some time, developers are having to create different ways to bring in more revenue. Like it or not, if people are not willing to shell out a bit more for a video game, microtransactions are here to stay.