Odds are if you signed up for this weekend's Halo Infinite multiplayer technical preview you got an email not that long ago letting you know the deal -- with the Spartan action commencing this weekend September 23-26 and next weekend from September 30 - October 3. With downloading and prepping to take place in the coming days, the latest Inside Infinite by 343 Industries has given us a glimpse at that to expect. Big Team Battle.

And this time the player count has been upped to 12 versus 12.

"We are all really big fans of legacy BTB so we were careful not to mess with what isn’t broken," said Senior Multiplayer Designer Fernando Reyes Medina. "We wanted a BTB experience that feels classic and modern at the same time. An opportunity I saw to improve Classic BTB was to make sure that the mode rules and balance consider the increased player count and the amazing new maps that level designers made for Halo Infinite. This allowed us to create an exciting pace throughout a BTB match, which, combined with the awesome new toys in our sandbox, makes the perfect stage so players can play out memorable moments with their friends."

"We took a similar philosophy in how we approached BTB as we did with Arena, but turned it up to 11," adds Senior Multiplayer Designer Patrick Wren. "There is the core experience of spawning at your base, jumping into vehicles, and going out into the world, but we looked at how we could spice it up. Tanks for example, especially the Scorpion, are extremely powerful vehicles that would tend to dominate matches in previous Halo games. We looked at how we could make them an amazing moment in a match that really punctuates their power."

BTB has been a fan favourite for a long time so it's great to see it come back bigger than ever before. As per Lead Multiplayer Designer Andrew Witts the three design pillars for Big Team Battle are:

Embrace the Spartan Battle Fantasy – We want players to really feel like they are within a Spartan unit pushing through the battlefield and capturing objectives as a team. That’s why we’ve invested in things like Pelican Drops, Commander mode VO, Weapon Pods falling from the sky to resupply the field and a few more dynamic elements – we wanted it to feel like an active battle inside the Halo universe. Additionally, we wanted maps to feel like they were a part of an iconic battle within the Halo universe.

Empower Player Types to Thrive – There are many different types of players in the Halo ecosystem. Some players are pilots, others are slayers or objective hunters, but we wanted all of them to work together in this BTB experience. Fernando has a fantastic phrase that sums up this pillar well: Make sure everyone can feel like a hero in any match.

Unleash the Halo Infinite Sandbox – This pillar kind of speaks for itself. We felt like the “big” in BTB was not just the number of players in the match or the size of the maps but the number of options at players’ disposal. All the toys are available in this space for maximum fun.

Head Here For More Info.