How to Change Servers in Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite still, to this day, does not have a server browser like it did in the old days. If you want to play with people halfway around the world, or just get away from less-than-populated servers in your own region, you need another solution.

The good news is, you can still decide which region you want to play in. All it takes is a few minutes to set up, and a little help from Private Internet Access, the gaming VPN that’s here to solve your problems. Well… it’s here to solve some of your networking problems. It can’t do anything about spawn locations or that one guy with the sniper rifle on the enemy team, more’s the pity.

Anyway, here’s how to change your region at will:

Everything You Need to Know About Changing Servers on Halo Infinite

As far as the basic process, did you see those three steps above? That was it. That’s basically all you need to know to get started. But there are a few more tips and tricks that you may find handy, or solve some problems before you run into them, so read on for everything else you need to know:

Use a VPN to Change Regions in Halo Infinite

This section is for the beginners out there: Halo Infinite uses your IP address to determine your location, and tries to match you with players that are nearby for the best connection. The only matchmaking option the game itself provides is choosing whether to restrict your matches only to players who are closer to you, or to open up the search radius a bit.

To change your region, you need to change your IP address, and the most reliable way to change your IP address is with a VPN.

VPNs work by routing all of your internet traffic through a remote server in a location of your choice. Then the data travels on to its destination, and the game server sees that data as having come from the IP address of the VPN server. This hides the IP associated with your home network, making the game think you’re in a completely different city or country.

How to Set Up a Halo Infinite VPN on a Game Console

Most major consoles don’t support VPN app installation, so you need to route your console’s internet traffic through the VPN server by other means. You can configure a compatible modem or router to route everything through the VPN network of your choice.

This usually involves going to the settings page of your router or modem in a browser on a PC or smartphone. From there, you should be able to configure it to use PIA’s network, and route your internet traffic through the VPN server of your choice. You can learn more about setting up a VPN on a router here.

Now, if you don’t have a VPN-enabled router, don’t have the means to get one, or your ISP won’t upgrade your router for you, you have other options. Both PCs and smartphones can be turned into internet hotspots. If you connect your Xbox to that hotspot, and run the PIA app on your PC or smartphone, that will also work.

The downside (especially when using a smartphone for this) is that using a Wi-Fi hotspot for gaming is much less stable than using a wired connection. If you have a PC with two Ethernet ports, plug your console into one of them and use an app to turn your PC into a virtual router. It’ll basically be as fast as having a VPN-enabled modem or router, and much more stable than using Wi-Fi.

Why isn’t there a region picker or server browser in Halo Infinite?

Truth be told, I can only speculate on this. The usual explanation is that game devs want to always provide the fastest connection possible, which is how a lot of games end up region-locked. I think Halo Infinite’s developers would give that same explanation, but it’s worth noting that Halo Infinite is NOT region-locked, in the traditional sense. It just doesn’t provide the option to change your region.

Meanwhile, there were rumors that a region picker was actually intended to be included in the game at some point in the update cycle, but it never happened. Why? I think it has a lot to do with how the game launched, and the state it was in. While the actual gameplay got solid reviews, the netcode was in something of a sorry state. Desync issues ran rampant, making the game a lot less fun for the players, who were prevented from running rampant over the enemy team.

Those issues were fixed so well to the point where I even wrote a whole article about how good the netcode is now. My suspicion is that the overhauled netcode, while very good, might not perform as well as the developers would like when players connect to servers halfway around the world. That, I think, is why they left a server/region browser out of their roadmap.

Mind you, that’s a potential issue for every online game, and just something you expect when you connect to other regions. It’s also another opportunity for gaming VPNs to shine, as they can help to alleviate some of the network issues you can face over long distances.

How to get the fastest connection to Halo Infinite’s servers with a VPN

To be clear, even PIA can’t do a lot about the laws of physics. The further away the game server is, the higher your ping will be. However, a VPN can do two things to make your gaming a lot smoother: it can stabilize your connection to reduce lag spikes, and it can bypass external networking issues.

Those issues might include congested networks between you and the game server, or bad signal routing caused by a misconfigured server somewhere in your ISP’s data center. Sometimes it’s just bad luck.

PIA helps with those external networking issues by using the fastest route between your device and the VPN server of your choice. If you choose a VPN server that’s close to the game server, PIA can essentially bypass those problems to get you the best possible connection to the game server. This is especially useful when connecting to other regions.

With server locations in over 90 countries, you can always find a PIA VPN server that’s close to one of Halo Infinite’s game servers. Here’s a handy list of those servers to make your life a little easier (and a hearty thank-you to theglobalgaming.com, from which this list was sourced):

• Australia East – Sydney
• Brazil South – Sao Paolo
• Central US – West Des Moines, Iowa
• East Asia – Hong Kong
• East US 2 – Boydton, Virginia
• East US – Boydton, Virginia
• Japan East – Tokyo
• Japan West – Osaka
• North Central US – Chicago, Illinois
• North Europe – Dublin
• South Africa North – Johannesburg
• South Central US – San Antonio, Texas
• South East Asia – Singapore
• West Europe – Amsterdam
• West US 2 – Seattle, Washington
• West US – San Francisco, California

You might need to try a couple of different combinations of VPN server and game server to get the lowest ping you can, so don’t be afraid to do a little experimentation.

Why Choose PIA as Your #1 VPN for Gaming

PIA stands out as the best gaming VPN for several reasons. First and foremost — for anyone trying to change their region, at least — is the server network. As mentioned above, having VPN server locations in over 90 countries makes changing your region easy, and helps you to get the fastest connection you can.

The other big advantage is that it works with every gaming platform where Halo Infinite is available. Windows and Linux gamers alike can just download the native apps for their respective platforms, and go. 

Meanwhile, Xbox gamers can make use of VPN-enabled routers and hotspots, and this is a supported use-case. Not all gaming VPNs can boast the same. Moreover, if you have any trouble at all, you can reach out to the 24/7 live customer support team via live chat or email for help.

But masking your IP address with a VPN doesn’t just help you change regions. PIA uses that same technology to help mitigate DDoS attacks. Attackers can’t hit what they can’t see, and PIA’s servers all have DDoS mitigation built in so you won’t even get lag from those attacks. In addition, PIA uses powerful encryption to help keep your data safe on any network, including public Wi-Fi. Together, the IP masking and the encryption can also let you play on a laptop at work or school, bypassing network blocks on the game.

All of that comes with unlimited data (so you’ll never have a game interrupted by arbitrary data caps), a proven no-logs policy, extra security features, and so much more, at a great price, with a 30-day money back guarantee so you can try it risk-free.

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