Months After Ending Major Updates, Halo Infinite Adds 10 Community Arena Maps Ahead of Halo Fest 2026
Even though major seasonal operations for Halo Infinite have officially wrapped up, the multiplayer shooter is still getting fresh battlegrounds thanks to its most dedicated builders. Ahead of next month's 25th anniversary celebrations, Halo Studios has deployed the new Halo Fest Showcase playlist into live matchmaking.
As detailed in the official announcement on Halo Waypoint, the playlist gathers all 10 finalist maps from the Halo Fest Forge Contest. Organized in partnership with ForgeHub and backed by a $10,000 prize pool, the competition narrowed down 62 community submissions ahead of the final winner reveal at Halo Fest in Seattle from December 11 to 13, 2026.
Spiritual Successors Built for 4v4 Arena Combat
Rather than building one-to-one remakes of existing classics, the contest challenged Forgers to craft original 4v4 Arena maps that serve as spiritual successors to iconic campaign missions and multiplayer layouts from across Halo's 25-year history. Each map was designed to blend nostalgic visual themes with combat flow tailored specifically for Halo Infinite's movement sandbox.
The playlist arrives right as Microsoft ramps up its milestone celebrations across the ecosystem, joining the all-time Xbox Playback Gamertag retrospective on Xbox Series X|S. Players can jump into the rotation right now to test every finalist map before attendees play them live on the showfloor in Seattle next month.
All 10 Halo Fest Showcase Maps, Forgers, and Game Modes
The rotation spans five core Arena modes: Slayer, Capture the Flag (CTF), King of the Hill, Strongholds, and Oddball. Several veteran builders stood out during the judging phase, most notably community Forger JoValiant, who co-created four of the ten finalist battlegrounds selected for matchmaking.
One technical adjustment was also made specifically for live servers: the finalist map originally submitted as Conveyance by Mr Greencastle and Uneeq TV appears in the playlist under the name Unconveyed. Its moving conveyor belts have been made static in this matchmaking variant to ensure smoother, more predictable firefights online.
Here is the complete breakdown of all 10 community maps featured in the playlist, their creators, and supported Arena modes:
| Forge Map | Creators (Forgers) | Supported 4v4 Arena Modes |
|---|---|---|
| Abundance | Cold Nightshade, LNeedMoreBleach, spartan blood 1, AddiCt3d 2CHa0s, JoValiant | CTF, King of the Hill, Strongholds, Slayer |
| Bits and Pieces | JoValiant, Igrizhar, Small Napkins | CTF, Slayer |
| Cascade | SE7ENGINE, Zaffiro Creep, JDzirkus | CTF, Oddball, Strongholds, Slayer |
| Eulogy | ShredderMcgenty | CTF, King of the Hill, Oddball, Slayer |
| Hierarch | xDTx Kaos | CTF, King of the Hill, Slayer |
| Sanctum | OG SaLoT, Tyrant Hacker, JoValiant | CTF, King of the Hill, Strongholds, Slayer |
| Shade's Promise | Zaddy Hammer | CTF, Strongholds, Slayer |
| Sluff | Igrizhar, JoValiant | CTF, King of the Hill, Slayer |
| Sojourn | Squally DaBeanz | CTF, King of the Hill, Strongholds, Slayer |
| Unconveyed | Mr Greencastle, Uneeq TV | CTF, King of the Hill, Oddball, Slayer |
Keeping the Arena Alive Ahead of Seattle's 25th Anniversary
While much of the fanbase is already looking ahead to future projects like the Unreal Engine 5 remake Halo: Campaign Evolved, this showcase proves once again that the Forge community remains the beating heart of Halo Infinite. From Forerunner stonework to Covenant lighting palettes, the visual polish across these ten maps rivals official studio releases.
My Perspective
I always love how dedicated Forgers refuse to let a multiplayer sandbox fade away even after official seasonal support winds down. Controller in hand, running Capture the Flag on layouts like Sanctum or Cascade immediately brings back that unmistakable late-night Halo 2 and Halo 3 couch energy, complete with skill jumps and tight sightlines that only longtime Arena players know how to tune.
Putting all ten finalists directly into public matchmaking a month before Halo Fest in Seattle is the best way to honor their work: instead of handing out a trophy behind closed doors, Halo Studios is letting the entire community playtest the contenders before December's final verdict.
Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
