Another week, another new blog post from developer 343 Industries. This week comes with a lot of new information but perhaps the most critical is the fact that Halo 5 multiplayer playlist is being removed. Forever. The developer also explains their reasoning for this sudden move.

The playlist being targeted for removal is the Team Skirmish one. While this is sad news for fans of the playlist, others are hailing this as a good move.

343 Industries explains that the reason for the removal of the playlist is simple: it has a “consistently low player population”. As a result, the mode is being removed from Halo 5: Guardians. The developer has no plans to ever bring it back. However, they do say that they’ll be looking to include the maps and modes in other playlists so not all of the content will be lost. At this point we don’t know exactly what will be saved as the developer hasn’t made any announcements on this front yet.

“It’s never fun to take away something that players (even if it’s a relatively small group) have become accustomed to and it’s not something the team takes lightly, but sometimes it’s unavoidable,” explains 343 industries. “Player trends and preferences ebb and flow” and as a result, the playlists are modified to match these trends. Most of the time however this results in changes to the matchmaking system. As a result, the removal of a playlist is quite drastic.

Team Skirmish will be removed this week on August 3rd. Giving players just a few more days to experience everything the playlist has to offer. It’s also unknown when the content from this playlist will be added to the still active playlists. We expect that 343 Industries will announce this soon.

It’s sad to see a playlist go but 343 Industries are confident they’ve made the right choice.