343 Industries, the studio behind the highly anticipated title, Halo: Infinite, announced today in their August Development Update video that the newest game in the series will not have the popular Forge or Campaign Co-Op modes at launch. Creative Director Joseph Staten said the modes would launch after the game releases, so the studio can focus on the multiplayer and single-player for the fall release. In the video, 343 Industries says they are, "100 percent committed to release the anticipated shooter this holiday."
Campaign Co-Op has been a main feature of most Halo games since the series began, while the popular Forge mode, which allows players to create their maps using assets within the game, became a staple after Halo 3.
The Development Update video touches on the problematic reasons as to why the studio was forced to delay the popular modes, as detailed by the developers and Staten.
"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. And we also made the tough call to delay shipping Forge past launch as well
Staten went on to say that Halo: Infinite will approach the release of these modes in a seasonal update. The first season will feature the launch of the multiplayer and seasonal skins, while seasons 2 and 3 will see these modes added to the game. Each new season begins every three months, so Campaign Co-Op won't see the light of day until sometime in 2022.
Xbox recently announced the Gamescom 2021 Xbox Stream, where Microsoft will be offering, "in-depth updates from some of our previously announced Xbox Game Studios titles alongside some of our third-party partners." It would not be surprising to see more news about Halo: Infinite during the upcoming event. The livestream begins on Aug. 24 at 10:00 a.m. PT/6:00 p.m. BST/7:00 p.m. CEST.
Halo Infinite doesn’t have an official release date yet, but is scheduled to launch this holiday season on Xbox Series XIS, Xbox One, and PC. Check out the August Development Update video below.