Halo might not have invented teabagging, or the act of crouching over your virtual enemy after killing them, but it certainly popularized it. But according to 343 Industries, Halo Infinite’s powerful bots won’t gloat by teabagging you during the test flights.
Eurogamer reached out to 343 to find out more about Halo Infinite’s bots, which players faced when 343 hosted its first Halo Infinite test flight. These bots were skilled and tough and could kill players pretty easily. But they’d never brag about it.
So to start, no, the bots will no teabag players in Halo Infinite. In a longer response to Eurogamer, 343 says it’s because the bots are there to help players even while killing them.
“Bots are primarily a part of Halo Infinite to help players learn and experiment with the multiplayer experience. We want players to feel comfortable making mistakes against bots because making mistakes means you’re improving and working on skills you haven’t mastered yet.”
“We never want to punish learning, especially not by having bots engage in behaviors that a player could feel is exclusionary.”
However, there were reports from the test flight that a bot teabagged a player after killing them. 343 says this was bugged and actually trying to jump on the edge of a ramp.
So follow the bot’s lead and be a gracious winner when Halo Infinite finally launches. While there’s no release date yet, Xbox boss Phil Spencer is confident the team will hit the holiday launch window and is currently narrowing down a specific release date.
And if you missed the first Halo Infinite Test Flight, 343 says there will be more, bigger tests coming in the future leading up to launch.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.