[Updated] Halo Infinite geo-filtering system exploit causing high ping on matches, issue acknowledged

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on January 25, 2022) follows:

In the last few days, Halo Infinite players have been suffering from some issues related to high ping when entering many online matches.

In the past, players have already reported about ping and matchmaking issues. However, the company has been working on correcting the problems by sending hotfixes.

But, now, the new ping issues in Halo Infinite have another reason behind it. Apparently, there are some players taking advantage of an exploit in the geo-filtering system, according to an official confirmation.

According to reports, the high ping issue in Halo Infinite is troubling many players. This causes noticeable competitive disadvantages, such as delayed actions compared to other players in the same match.

What about getting placed in 160-250 ping lobbies every few games?

Maybe I haven’t scoured this sub enough, but it seems like desync is getting more attention than this issue. Every other FPS game, I get a consistent 20-30ms ping and I know for a fact that it is not because I have “bad internet.”

I have been tracking my games, and it seems like 1 out of every 3 or 4 games I get placed in, has insanely high ping.
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Apparently, those affected by the problem experience it in the vast majority of matches they enter. This especially affects competitive games, as it negatively impacts their stats (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13).

What’s with every ranked game being 220 ping?

It’s not my internet. Every quickplay or event match I play is 50 ping, yet 9/10 ranked matches (playing solo and in a team) are 220 ping or above. Makes most games very aggravating and hard to play. Anyone else getting this? Same thing is happening to my friend who is across the country from me.
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Currently, the company is aware of the problem. Furthermore, they reveal that their investigations found the cause: players taking advantage of an exploit/backdoor in the geo-filtering system.

Apparently, some players are taking advantage of the aforementioned exploit to affect the ping-rate of others and gain competitive advantages during battles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

I just confirmed that this was because of players geofiltering in your matches. That is not intended and the team is working to address this quickly due to the rough experience these bad actors are creating for everyone else in the match. We’ll share even more info soon.
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The company is currently working on solving these issues. However, there is no estimated arrival date yet for a fix that will definitively resolve the Halo Infinite high ping issues related to geo-filtering.

Finally, we will update this article as events unfold to keep you informed.

01:22 pm (IST): Some players were affecting the latency and ping performance of other players by taking advantage of geo-filtering (selective blocking of server).

The new update resolves this and the players who try to block the matchmaking servers will receive a ‘No ping to our datacenters’ error message during the gameplay.

03:20 pm (IST): Halo team on Twitter has informed players that they are working on a back-end update to resolve multiple server issues and matchmaking.

The #HaloMCC team is now in the early stages of testing a backend update that would address recent matchmaking and Custom Game Browser issues. This service update would not require a download. We’ll provide more information as soon as it’s available. (Source)

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