‘Halo Infinite’ Will Not Have Co-Op Or Forge Mode Available At Launch
One of the most anticipated games of the year is 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite. The next game in the beloved Halo franchise is supposed to be gigantic with a scope that developers have promised will change everything … at least that’s what we’ve been promised with the campaign. The multiplayer, from what we’ve seen, is going to continue to be the same Halo we all know and love. There’s a notable split in Infinite between the multiplayer and campaign, with the multiplayer being available as a separate free-to-play download for anyone that wants to play it.
The campaign, meanwhile, has had a bit of a rough development cycle. The initial demo everyone saw went so poorly that the game was delayed in response. A follow up trailer at the most recent E3 was more hopeful, but the turnaround time to fix an entire game was pretty short, especially during a pandemic. As such, there was a bit of concern about what the state of the campaign would be in at launch. It turns out we weren’t wrong to be a little concerned, because there are going to be missing features at launch such as no co-op or forge.
A big part of why this is happening is 343 Industries’ commitment to hitting the holiday launch date they promised. They’re certainly feeling pressure to meet that deadline with Xbox head Phil Spencer stating publicly their commitment to that time window. When the big boss says you’re committed to a date, then you probably need to make sure you hit it. If that means no co-op or forge mode at launch, then so be it.
Unfortunately, though, that’s going to be a pretty big hit to the campaign release of the game. With the multiplayer going free-to-play, the only version of Halo that people will have to pay for is single-player. Without co-op — a staple of the Halo franchise — or forge, there are going to be players who skip out on purchasing the campaign at launch. Unfortunately, in the rough world of video game development, sacrifices like this have to be made sometimes to ensure a game meets a deadline. As long as the game technically works when it comes out then people will be able to forgive the lack of co-op or forge, at least for a little while.