Campaign co-op has been a staple feature of practically every Halo title since the one that started it all, 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved. Unfortunately, 343 Industries will be breaking that tradition for its latest installment, Halo Infinite.
Speaking in an August development update, creative director and Bungie alum Joseph Staten revealed that Halo Infinite would be shipping without a campaign co-op mode at launch. This means that players who wish to jump straight into Master Chief’s new story against the Banished (an ex-Covenant mercenary organization led by Jiralhanae warmaster Atriox) will have to do it solo.
Staten explained that campaign co-op is being delayed so his team at 343 Industries can focus on getting the single-player and multiplayer modes done in time for the game’s holiday release. That’s understandable, being that Halo Infinite was supposed to launch alongside the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles on November 10, 2020.
Sadly, Halo Infinite will also be launching without Forge. Introduced in 2007’s Halo 3 for Xbox 360, Forge is a popular game mode that allows Halo fans to customize, save, and share maps for custom games.
“Unfortunately, as we focused the team for shut down, and really focused on a quality experience for launch, we made the really tough decision to delay shipping campaign co-op for launch,” Staten said. “And we also made the tough call to delay shipping Forge past launch as well.”
Staten goes on to explain that implementing a campaign mode with co-op is tougher than it looks due to save systems and other complexities.
“On the co-op side, we have the opportunity to play the campaign all the time, it’s this wonderful, open, non-linear take on the Halo campaign,” he said. “It’s going to offer so much more flexibility to take down Banished bases from all different angles, to progress through the game in your own way.”
“At the same time though, that’s complicated. When you think about save systems and all the technology that needs to drive this more non-linear experience, and in the co-op experience that’s even more complicated.”
Join members of the 343 Industries team for a discussion on key takeaways from the recent Multiplayer Technical Preview, updates on Halo Infinite’s overall development, and what to expect at launch.
Source: Halo