343 Industries has announced that they have decided to delay the campaign co-op and Forge for Halo Infinite at launch. Both of these features will eventually come to the game. However, the focus for the developer is to get the game ready for its Holiday 2021 release.
This announcement comes from today’s Halo Infinite Development Update, where 343 Industries Head of Creative Joesph Staten confirms that features won’t be will be included in Halo Infinite at launch. Despite this, it would seem that Halo Infinite is 100% committed” to being released this Holiday 2021.
Sadly, if I’m not a fan of this idea. Halo’s campaign co-op has been a mainstay for all of the Halo games, and releasing what has been touted as the return to what made the series so good without co-op seems like a bad idea. I’ve spent countless days playing co-op with friends, and now that Halo Infinite won’t include this, well, it’s depressing. It just feels that 343 Industries needs to release this game following last year’s disaster.
While I didn’t dabble with the Forge, I’ve seen some masterpieces from those who did nothing but create custom content. This hurts them just as much as it hurts those who were looking to blast through the game with family and friends in tow.
Granted, I’m not a developer, so I’m the last person you should be listening to when it comes to the complexities of making a co-op campaign work. Yet, as a consumer, hearing this news stinks. Sure, I’ll be able to play through the game solo, but having a buddy that has my back makes things even better.
I know some who’ll hear this would be screaming to delay the game further. However, this isn’t possible. We all saw what happened with Halo Infinite as of last year, the launch of the Xbox Series X and S. It was a tragic mistake of trying to do too much, too fast. Delaying Halo Infinite to work on it and pooling a ton of resources into making sure the game gets released this year would be wasted. The game has to be released this year, and 343i knows this. This is why we’re not seeing either campaign co-op or Forge getting released at launch.
Halo Infinite is still planned to be released this Holiday 2021 season for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
That said, what do you think about the news? Let us know in the comments.
