As divulged by developer 343 Industries, Halo Infinite's planned campaign co-op and Forge mode will not launch with the game in Holiday 2021. The ability to play through Halo campaigns in a splitscreen co-op configuration is a series mainstay stemming back to the first entry, and that trend was controversially bucked by Halo 5: Guardians on the Xbox One. Forge, meanwhile, has become a core part of the franchise since its introduction, making Halo Infinite the first post-Halo 3 entry to not offer the mode upon release.
343 Industries previously specified that Halo Infinite's campaign co-op will support 2 players locally and up 4 players online in July, so the choice to delay the incorporation of this fan-favorite feature may have been made in recent weeks. Halo Infinite, originally planned as an Xbox Series X/S launch title, has had a publicly rocky production. In addition to being finished during a pandemic for over a year at this point, the game was infamously delayed and the its creative management has seen multiple key figures come and go.
Amid a breakdown of Halo Infinite's first multiplayer technical preview, Halo developer 343 Industries shared that the game will not launch with campaign co-op or Forge on-disc on its reaffirmed Holiday 2021 release. The studio has plans to bring the features to the game post-launch, with co-op coming in a the game's second season and Forge in a third. Halo Infinite creative lead Joseph Staten cited 343's focus on delivering a "quality experience for launch" for the delay of co-op and Forge. He says that the team is "100 percent committed" to releasing the game on time, but a solid release date has yet to be set.
Having previously delayed Halo Infinite over graphics criticisms following its gameplay reveal in 2020, 343's decision to cut core content even this close to the game's release window is disappointing but not exactly shocking. The Xbox studio's first public playtests revealed many glitches, indicating that polishing the title's multiplayer (and likely single-player) portions may rightfully be the biggest concerns at 343 at present. Community director John Junyszek and live operations producer Sam Hanshaw shared that the multiplayer technical preview was a success overall and reconfirmed more Halo Infinite playtests will be conducted leading up to release.
The apparent pressure 343 is facing to ship the flagship Xbox title on time may or may not work in the developer's favor this year. Halo 5: Guardians' omission of splitscreen play and modes like Big Team Battle was widely criticized in 2015, and the prospect of Halo Infinite becoming the second series game in a row to not launch in an incomplete state doesn't sound promising. It makes sense that Microsoft wants its biggest Xbox Series X/S console exclusive so far to be readily purchasable during the holiday season, but critics and longtime players expecting more at launch may disagree.
Halo Infinite will be available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC in Holiday 2021.
Source: Halo/YouTube