I bought a can of Pringles mostly to get an XP boost in Halo Infinite, only to discover that I couldn't redeem the code. See, I had to upload a photo of my receipt to the company's website. The procedure makes a lot of sense (you'd want to prevent people from walking around the deli and scanning QR codes from snacks they don't pay for) but who the hell hangs on to receipts these days?
I didn't end up with my XP boost (sad trombone), but I got a front-row seat to Halo Infinite's bizarre and broad cross-promotional branding campaign. Instead of being the launch of other major Halo games, you can now see Master Chief's not-face on a range of snacks, energy drinks, and fast-casual food chains.
The majority of these promotions have a clear selling point. Engagement in the multiplayer part of Halo Infinite, which has been out on Xbox and PC for roughly three weeks, is largely driven by a 100-level battle pass. Every 1,000XP you earn, primarily through knocking out daily and weekly challenges, you'll rise a level. You'll also get numerous cosmetic options for your Halo avatar as you level.
Following some vocal outcry about Halo Infinite's glacial pace of growth, developer 343 Industries tweaked the system so you earn XP simply for seeing matches through to the end. However, the fastest method to progress is to knock out any number of your 20 allotted weekly taskstasks like Get five double kills in PvP or Win three matches of capture-the-flag.
While the Battle Pass offers some boosts and challenge swaps in Halo Infinite's microtransaction store for $2 each, you can get some of both at a regular price by making your challenges more manageable. Game Pass owners, though, get a tiny discount.
Meanwhile, by punching in the promo code Halo117 on a digitally placed order from Chipotle, the fast-casual chain, I could theoretically earn five challenge swaps. Those would let me swap out any weekly tasks I'd find a bit too challenging. (Challenge swaps don't work for capstone challenges, the final ones you get each week.)
Rockstar, the energy drink, debatably offers you a daily promotion of an Xbox Series X. Every code you enter gives you a XP boost plus something, including challenges swaps, paint jobs for weapons and vehicles, and customization options for your multiplayer banner, not to be confused with last year's win an Xbox and then go to France collab with Monster Energy. Taking the time to enter the competition, Rockstar will not make you feel like anything other than irradiated lime juice.
The whole thing is a strange exercise in managing the in-game annoyances from getting tricky or unrealistic challenges. Plus, you're merely earning the chance to get more XP. You're not getting sweet, rare cosmetics or raw XP. You might even select a swap and just as easily end up with one that is unusable (blow up three Wasps in PvP). And you can only reap the benefits from XP boosts if you're blowing through
But that's the nature of the beast herethat you'd spend over a few dollars in the hopes of achieving some marginal improvement to your standing. Roasted jalapeno, the flavor of those Pringles. Yes, even if the far superior salt and vinegar variety was right there. An effective promotional campaign can make a suck out of any of us.