'Halo Infinite' Plagued With Bugs Preventing Xbox Fans From Joining the Beta

A constant "pending" error has left some Xbox players unable to join the new Halo Infinite flight test.

What Is the 'Halo Infinite' Flight Test?

As a quick recap, the flight test is essentially Halo Infinite's version of a multiplayer beta. Those who enrolled on the insider program (using the waypoint app) were considered as potential candidates and have been receiving email notifications over the past few days letting them know if their applications were successful.

Various criteria were involved in selecting who would get to participate in the playtest. Among other things, the website asked users to supply details on their typical availability throughout the week, which platforms they own, where they live and how familiar they are with the Halo franchise itself.

This data helped inform developer 343 Industries when it came to selecting players for the beta. After all, they needed players from across different areas of the globe, and with different home entertainment setups, to have a thorough flight test that is representative of their entire audience.

'Halo Infinite' Beta: Bugs Prevent Users From Joining Matches

The beta is designed to stress test the Halo Infinite servers, identify balancing issues that crop up in multiplayer matches, and pinpoint any technical glitches before the title launches later this year.

Speaking of which, a lot of bugs have been discovered already, although they are not what you might expect. Rather than experiencing system crashes, strange graphical errors, or gameplay quirks that can be exploited for an easy win, the main issues that are being reported at the moment relate to joining the flight test itself.

For example, when loading their first matches, some players have received a notification informing them that "there was a problem with the dedicated server." This particular bug seems to be quite easily resolved, however, by just trying again and again until it eventually works. This has been confirmed by the official Halo Support Twitter account.

Meanwhile, after downloading the beta, certain Xbox users have encountered messages telling them that an update is required but that it cannot be accessed at the moment. Again, some quick troubleshooting from the Halo Support account explains that this issue can be remedied via the classic method of turning your machine on and off again.

An entire section of the Halo waypoint website is now dedicated to walking playtesters through these various issues, but there is still one problem that you cannot fix on your own. At least not yet.

'Halo Infinite' Beta: The 'Pending' Error

For a bit of context, console players will need to use the Xbox Insiders Hub (which can actually be used right now as a means of potentially ordering an Xbox Series X) to access the beta. To do this, they must use the same profile that they registered with on the Halo waypoint website.

Yet many users have reported that they cannot get past this step, as the hub remains stuck on "Pending" whenever they try to access the flight test.

According to the Halo support account, this can be attributed to the heavy strain currently being placed on the servers, which means that there is nothing gamers can really do about it, other than wait patiently.

Xbox has assured fans that their engineers are working on a solution, but some are dissatisfied with that outcome and are suggesting that the beta period ought to be extended to account for all these delays.

At the time of writing, the last update occurred at 3 a.m. ET, when the official Xbox support account tweeted: "Our investigative teams are continuing to see improvement as fewer users are stuck in a pending state when trying to access Halo Infinite through the Xbox Insider Hub app. If you're still waiting, thanks for your patience! We will let you know when this issue is fully resolved."

In terms of Halo Infinite itself, there is confirmed release date yet, although it is slated for the 2021 holiday period. In an unprecedented move for the franchise, 343 Industries announced at this year's E3 conference that the single-player campaign and the multiplayer will launch separately.