REACTION - Jeff Steitzer’s Omission From Halo Infinite’s Big Team Battle Is Weird And Disappointing

Dulcet tones.

By Jay Tee
05/10/21

Halo means various things to different folks; a local multiplayer extravaganza, Chief and Cortana, the Plasma Pistol / Battle Rifle noob combo. For many, this franchise was a quintessential defining moment in their formative gaming years. Whatever it is that has helped it to endure after all this time, it’s safe to say that one element we can all agree on is the wonderous badassery of Jeff Steitzer’s work as the multiplayer announcer.

Equal parts snarl and surprise, his medal announcements are a legendary recurring trope in online skirmishes, and have been for every single mainline Halo title. However, in Halo Infinite’s latest technical test, he does not appear at all in Big Team Battle. Not one single medal is narrated by Jeff, and that, quite frankly, is a confusing design misstep.

Some of the coolest new medals like “Grapple Jack”, “Mind the Gap”, and “Off the Rack”, are more commonly obtained in that specific mode. And while he appears in regular Slayer, even then there’s only a smattering of medals being announced. It’s particularly jarring when the hit and miss quips from your personal AI quickly get repetitive, making you wish Steitzer was simply narrating everything.

There’s even a petition doing the rounds, and a reddit post picking up steam. We recently interviewed Jeff Steitzer as part of our latest Some Drivel Podcast season, but this was before all of this kicked off. Hopefully we’ll have another update on this in the days and weeks ahead.

Halo Infinite is going to be fantastic. But this design choice makes absolutely no sense.