343 Industries has been hard at work trying to ensure that Halo Infinite sees a 2021 release and after the positive reception of the first Flight Test beta period, it’s easy to see why so many Halo fans are getting excited for the holidays. That being said, the studio has confirmed some news regarding the Halo Infinite launch, namely that the latest Master Chief adventure will not feature campaign co-op or Forge right at launch. The good news is that this shouldn’t result in a delay, the team added that they are still targeting a holiday window.
In the latest video update from 343 Industries, creative head Joseph Staten provided the recent news about Halo Infinite’s launch status. While the exclusion of these two features at launch is disappointing, he was quick to affirm that the team is “100 percent committed” to the holiday timeframe, with or without campaign co-op. “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,” said Staten when reflecting back on the past two years, especially with COVID-19’s impact on work culture. He added, “And we also made the tough call to delay shipping Forge past launch as well.”
“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,” Staten continued. “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.” Hence the delay.
In the video at the top of the article, Staten did confirm that while Forge and campaign co-op are delayed, 343 is adapting a seasonal launch timeline for both. So then what does Halo Infinite release with, you may be asking? It will come with the single-player story and the first season of multiplayer, which you can learn more about here.
Halo Infinite is expected to release sometime this holiday season. To learn more, check out our dedicated game hub here. Do it for Craig the Brute, don’t leave him hanging.
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