Halo: The Master Chief Collection finally launched for the Xbox One last night, but not without some unfortunate issues. Matchmaking online via Xbox LIVE was broken at launch, but has slowly improved in the 12 hours since new owners of the game in North America were trying to play online.
The problems started earlier than midnight ET, however. Halo: The Master Chief Collection owners from Australia to Great Britain were all reporting issues with matchmaking leading up to the North American launch. Players on Reddit, Twitter, and elsewhere were all reporting launching matchmaking only to sit and wait without joining a match. Custom matches were also problematic.
The following message was being displayed when I checked the Xbox Support page at approximately 1 a.m. ET.
Xbox members, are you having a tough time matchmaking in Halo: The Master Chief Collection? As you read this message, were working with our external partner to correct this issue right away. We appreciate your patience in the meantime! Well update you again when we have more information.
Its interesting that Microsoft references an external partner as the game is running on dedicated Azure cloud servers. What this external partner is used for is unknown, but the problems with Xbox LIVE matchmaking appear to be slowly easing. The support page now reads as follows.
Hi Xbox members, were seeing longer than expected Matchmaking times for some regions for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Matching times will improve as we continue to roll out. If you do not find a match after a few minutes, please restart your search.
343 Industries followed up just recently with new announcements via the official Halo Twitter account on the work that is being performed.
Were aware of issues some have been having with matchmaking and were working around the clock, alongside the Xbox Live team, to address.
Halo (@Halo) November 11, 2014
Weve also deployed an update that has shown some improvement, and we work around the clock to optimize. This is our top priority.
Halo (@Halo) November 11, 2014
The update deployed to matchmaking was done on the server side and does not require an extra download to your Xbox One.
Halo (@Halo) November 11, 2014
Please refer to this Halo Support thread for continued updates on Matchmaking: http://t.co/zZbfhTcaoo
Halo (@Halo) November 11, 2014
As of almost 1 p.m. ET, some players are reporting that they are able to get into matches, but it is taking them up to 10 minutes. Tuesday evening will be another test for the games matchmaking as more players will flood the servers since they werent able to get on after the midnight launch.
This launch for Halo: The Master Chief Collection is not to the same level of debacle as the PlayStation 4 and DriveClub, but it does not reflect well on the Xbox One at a critical time. Ideally, 343 Industries will have these issues solved by tonight when more players jump on, or no later than Wednesday morning.
Have you been affected by the matchmaking issues with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Let us know your experiences in the comments below.
[Images via Halo Waypoint]
[Update: Added two additional updates from the Halo Twitter account]
Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/1602364/halo-master-chief-collection-launches-with-multiplayer-issues/
