Halo Infinite bot bootcamp is gone, leaving players without a permanent PVE playlist

Halo Infinite
(Image credit: Microsoft/343 Industries)

Halo Infinite's bot bootcamp mode is gone as of the newly-released winter update, leaving players without a permanent PVE playlist.

The mode's removal was technically announced as part of a blog post last week laying out the playlists which would be available after the winter update. Bot bootcamp was not among them, but since 343 Industries did not directly address the mode's removal, players held out hope that it might still somehow be part of the game. But now that the winter update has arrived, bot bootcamp is nowhere to be found.

Bot bootcamp is billed in-game as a way to introduce players to Halo Infinite's multiplayer game mechanics, but even experienced fans continued to use it as a way to enjoy multiplayer in a lower-stress environment. It also served as a particularly easy way to grind through the game's regular challenges.

"Halo Infinite’s playlist offerings will continue to evolve and shift in response to player behavior in-game (where players spend their time) and community feedback," the devs said in last week's blog. Playlists in core and social modes are going to keep rotating on alternating weeks, so maybe bot bootcamp will return in some form sooner rather than later.

The biggest addition in the winter update is Forge mode, which might end up being a workaround for players looking to compete against bots, since you can theoretically build bot matches of your own. Unfortunately, Forge doesn't currently support the same sort of matchmaking as bot bootcamp, so it won't be a replacement. You will, at least, be able to play around on maps made out of 150,000 bananas.

Take aim at the best FPS games with our guide to the genre's brightest stars.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
Last Spartan Standing
With Concord in the rearview, Halo Infinite dev is glad it's still kicking "in a climate where games can be shut down with little notice"
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 movement.
Here's our Black Ops 6 multiplayer playlist to keep you and your pals connected over Christmas
Two Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players using omnimovement to dive past each other on the Skyline map
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 brings back a beloved game mode fans have been begging for, but all I care about is a practically meaningless bug fix
Halo Wars promo image showing top-down RTS combat
Master Chief's absence from Halo Wars wasn't Bungie's fault, it was a move to make players "care about everybody else" in the RTS
Two Splitgate 2 players shooting each other in a new map
Splitgate was eclipsed by Halo Infinite's launch, and 4 years later Splitgate 2 is back with an open alpha to dance on Master Chief's grave
Fortnite
15 Games like Fortnite you and your friends should play today
Latest in Halo
Halo 3
Halo 3 streamers claim a world record by beating the game's near-impossible LASO challenge in only 4 hours without dying once
halo
Microsoft said "'Nah'" to the Halo x Doom crossover pitched for Amazon's Secret Level, but I'm crossing my fingers for Season 2
Last Spartan Standing
With Concord in the rearview, Halo Infinite dev is glad it's still kicking "in a climate where games can be shut down with little notice"
Master Chief holds a beaming energy sword in our first look at Project Foundry
Almost 100GB of classic Halo content has leaked online, including the 1999 demo from when the legendary FPS was in third person
Halo Wars promo image showing top-down RTS combat
Master Chief's absence from Halo Wars wasn't Bungie's fault, it was a move to make players "care about everybody else" in the RTS
Halo 2
The Halo 2 Arbiter mission that Bungie scrapped 21 years ago has been officially restored as a playable Master Chief Collection mod
Latest in News
The Witcher 4 screenshot with Ciri using sword and sorcery to fight an ancient monster
The Witcher 4 devs explain how Ciri's fighting style will differ from Geralt's: "He's nimble, but he feels like a block...she's liquid"
Challenging The Manacle in Balatro, which limits hand size by -1 and playing two Jacks
From "I stopped working on the project entirely" to "we are so back," Balatro creator says the roguelike's development was always about passion and taking breaks was essential
InZOI screenshot from creation studio demo which depicts a shockingly realistic character model rendered in Unreal Engine 5
The director behind The Sims competitor InZOI spent 20 years making MMOs, but he ditched the massive RPGs after playing life sims with his son
Demon Slayer season 4 episode 2
True to the anime, Stardew Valley's hottest mod adds two romanceable Demon Slayer dudes who are both "rude and standoffish" at first
A group of Men wearing armour during the TV show, Vikings.
Vikings creator is heading back to his Norse roots with this new historical drama on Amazon
Balatro screenshot showing an assortment of joker cards
Balatro creator intentionally avoided roguelikes but did eventually play and "steal from" Slay the Spire anyway: "Holy s***. Now that is a game"