Master Chief’s Mark V armor in Halo Infinite costs $20, twice as much as Halo: CE itself

Just when 343 Industries seemed to be getting back in the fans’ good graces with the release of Halo Infinite Season 5, which saw an ahem, flood of enjoyable new features like a streamlined Battle Pass, cross-core helmets, a Forge AI toolkit and Flood-themed armor customizations — they went and did a thing like this — and totally soured much of the positive sentiment that they’d quickly amassed.

You figure that wouldn’t be the case with the release of the most iconic armor in the Halo franchise: Master Chief’s Mark V armor from Halo: Combat Evolved. That’s because there’s nothing wrong with Master Chief’s Mark V armor in Halo Infinite. It looks incredible, in fact. The problem is the cost. The Mark V armor cosmetic, which is a kit that can’t be utilized on other Spartan armors with the newly-implemented cross-core feature, costs a whole 2200 credits. That’s $22 (ironic on Halo: Combat Evolved‘s 22-year anniversary, no?) for Master Chief’s Mark V armor kit, two armor coatings (Viridescent Ring and Cinder Ring) and the Aurum Evolved visor, more than twice the price of the actual Halo: Combat Evolved game itself.

Master Chief’s Mark V armor in Halo Infinite/343 Industries

Although Master Chief’s Mark V armor in Halo Infinite is arguably the most highly-anticipated cosmetic in the game’s history, many fans are already voicing their displeasure at the cosmetic’s price point.

“Damn – I want this so bad. I can easily afford it. But the idea of supporting a skin that costs 1/3 the price of a game is insane. Sure, the game is free to play and I get all the multiplayer features, but locking a classic skin behind $22 is insane. My inner Halo fan sees this as a ‘must have,’ but my brain/wallet is saying this is bonkers for having to pay to play as Chief from CE.,” Owain660 said in a Reddit thread.

“I really, really want it. But it costing 1/3 of the price of a game is insane,” Owain660 continued.

JohnApple94 added, “The ‘it’s just kOsMeTiKs’ argument starts to fall apart once your cosmetics are no longer microtransactions. These kits are costing the same or MORE than map packs and expansions now. I get that the value of anything is subjective, but when is enough, enough? This single armor kit is basically valued at 1/3 of a full priced AAA game. 10 years ago this would’ve been unheard of. Now, because we gave them an inch, they took a mile. And it’ll only get worse.”

Despite this, Halo Infinite moved up 47 spots on the Steam Global Top Sellers chart on Tuesday (via Mr. Rebs on Twitter) to 34th place. It reached 16th place on the same chart when the Flood armor bundles went on sale at the beginning of Season 5.

Do you think 2200 credits (roughly $22) is an equitable price for Master Chief’s Mark V armor in Halo Infinite? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Check out this killer Cortana cosplay by Jannetincosplay. (Warning, might be NSFW.)