Halo Infinite Delaying Their Fan-Favorite Feature Release Yet Again
So, go ahead, 343 Industries, take your time. But we expect results, and Halo Infinite co-op better be good.
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Ever since the release of the groundbreaking Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001, a key feature of the genre-defining franchise has been its support of the campaign co-op play mode. However, Halo Infinite‘s cooperative campaign mode and level-editor Forge mode aren’t included in Halo‘s newest installment but were set to release at the start of Season 2 in May. Unfortunately, 343 Industries has announced that Halo Inifinte’s co-op mode has been delayed once again.
According to Game Rant, 343 Industries has announced that Halo Infinite’s co-op campaign won’t be available with Season 2, scheduled for a May 3 launch. However, the company said it still hopes to have the co-op mode ready sometime during Season 2, but still isn’t prepared to share a definitive release date. The campaign co-op, which supports up to 4 players in network play (online), and 2 players in split-screen (local), is apparently challenging to make due to the campaign’s non-linearity and open-world setting. Still, the company is very dedicated to solving said issues.
Some may argue that 343 should give up on the split-screen co-op for Halo Infinite, given the prominence of online play, but that proved to be a step in an entirely wrong direction — as seen in Halo 5: Guardians. It was the first mainline Halo title that didn’t have a split-screen co-op, which caused a massive uproar in the Halo gaming community. So, 343 Industries promised to incorporate split-screen into the sequel, which apparently won’t release with the game’s Season 2. And though many fans might be disappointed, it’s worth pointing out that unreasonable haste often leads to error.
Those that run fast stumble — which seems to be the current condition of the gaming industry, given the sheer number of poorly optimized releases we got in the past couple of years. Electronic Arts released poorly optimized Battlefield 2042, and rumor has it that it’s considering making the game free-to-play just to keep it afloat. Rockstar Games apologized for the poor state of GTA: The Trilogy and offered its original releases free of charge for those that acquired the remakes. It really proved to be a smart way of relieving gamers of their hard-earned money for 20-year-old titles. So, go ahead, 343 Industries, take your time. But we expect results, and Halo Infinite co-op better be good.
Abandoning support for old hardware, Xbox One in this case, could make things easier for 343 Industries, but those cards are also off the table, considering the ongoing semiconductor shortages. Xbox One console may be discontinued in favor of Xbox Series S, but it’s still widely used by Xbox console gamers who haven’t had the chance, not the funds, to get their hands on Xbox’s newest console. So, it will be interesting to see how well the upcoming co-op mode for Halo Infinite works once it’s released on both generations of Xbox machines.
In the meantime, the work on Halo Infinite Forge mode is still going strong, and fans can expect it to release at some point during Season 3. Halo Infinite is currently available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X for all gamers who haven’t had the chance to play this genre-defining franchise.
