Halo Infinite is currently facing a bug where bots join multiplayer teams to fill empty slots and then stick around after their actual-human replacements join the match, resulting in unbalanced teams for multiplayer matches.
Since the series of beta tests from the summer, it’s been clear that Halo Infinite’s bots exhibit the behavior, if not quite the skill, of IRL players. Apparently, that extends to the startlingly humanlike conduct of “not getting the hint that it’s time to leave the party.” The issue, which has plagued the shooter’s free-to-play multiplayer mode for at least a month, according to reports on social media, turns teams that should be four-strong into rosters of five or sometimes six opponents.
Read More: Why Halo Infinite’s Bots Act So Much Like People
From what I can tell, the problem is limited to casual matches. (Bots don’t populate empty slots in ranked matches, which is a whole other can of worms.)
I’ve noticed the issue intermittently over the past few weeks. Last night alone, I ended up in three matches with off-kilter teams. Mind, that’s not always a bad thing. For slayer matches in particular, it’s almost advantageous to go up against six opponents. Bots don’t exactly score high kill-death ratios (itself a recurrent complaint of Halo Infinite’s player base), so you can rack up double kills for a lower-effort victory.
For some of the objective-based modes, though, going up against a team stuffed with bots is essentially a guaranteed loss. Strongholds, the game type that requires your team to capture and hold zones, is all but impossible when you’re up against 50 percent more players than usual. You could play a flawless game. You’ll still likely lose. A team with five or six players is simply able to cover more ground and get to capturable zones quicker, constantly keeping the smaller team on its toes.
It’s unclear if this issue, which is presumably a bug, is in the queue for a fix. Representatives for Microsoft, Halo Infinite’s publisher, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.