Halo 4 is more than one year old, and 343 Industries is still dedicated to keeping a fresh experience for the game’s matchmaking. When the game first launched, special playlists known as ‘rotational playlists’ were trialed. After a few months, these type of playlists stopped. However, recently rotational playlists have returned, offering special hoppers for two weeks before being removed.

Below is a list of the upcoming rotational playlists in Halo 4 for the new year.

Big Team SWAT (8 vs. 8): January 6th, 2014

This type of playlist will be the first of its kind. In the past, Halo has only offered 4 v 4 and smaller team variants of Team SWAT.

Expect big maps, big player counts and lots and lots of headshots.

Team DLC (4 vs. 4): January 20th, 2013

Halo 4’s DLC wasn’t the most popular amongst players, meaning normally, it never shows up in Matchmaking. The lack of a DLC playlist really doesn’t help solve the matter either.

Coming on January 20th, a DLC playlist will be added for two weeks to hopefully satisfy your DLC needs.

Big Team Heavies (6 vs. 6): February 3rd, 2014

This gametype mades its debut back in Halo 3 when Bungie still ran the show. It features heavy weaponry and vehicles being a lot more common. Heavies made a return in Halo: Reach once 343 Industries took over the franchise, and was a huge success to the players.

This gametype will be returning on February 3rd, 2014 for two weeks as a 6 vs. 6 playlist rather than an 8 vs. 8. It is possible we could see this gametype introduced into Big Team Battle after this playlist is retired, but time will tell.

Big Rumble (12 Player FFA): February 17th, 2014

This gametype is also the first of its kind to Halo. Rumble Pit was orignally added earlier in 2013 as an 8-player FFA playlist which was received well widely by the players. To mix things up a little, Big Rumble will be added on Feb. 17th, 2014 featuring 12-players.

More details will be revealed on this playlist once it draws closer to release.

Medal Madness: March 3rd, 2014

The only known information about this playlist is the description:

“Earn medals to help your team win the match.”

Team sizes and details will be announced at a much later date.

Extraction (5 vs. 5): March 17th, 2014

Extraction had a pretty shaky introduction into Halo 4. It shipped on-disc like all other gametypes, but had no playlist in Matchmaking for months. It was eventually introduced into Matchmaking in the Crimson DLC playlist. A standalone playlist eventually launched, was deemed unpopular for a permanent playlist and merged into the now retired Team Objective playlist.

On March 17th, 2014, the playlist will return for a two-week period, offering 5 vs. 5 gameplay of Extraction on plenty of maps.

Squad DLC (6 vs. 6): March 31st, 2014

This playlist will clone Team DLC, except it will have a 6 vs. 6 offering rather than a 4 vs. 4 offering.

Ninja Assassins: April 14th, 2014

No details have been announced on this playlist as of yet and more information will be coming in the following months.

Safe to say, this playlist sounds bloody awesome.

Keep up with all other weekly changes to Halo 4 Matchmaking Updates right here on TeamBeyond.net.