Introduction
Forge and a co-op campaign have been staples of the Halo franchise since its inception 14 years ago back in 2007 with Halo 3. Since then, Forge has completely changed how players have played Halo with others; creating new maps, new game modes, and new experiences that have made ripples throughout the gaming world. That said, it's extremely discouraging for many to find out that 343 Industries will be releasing Halo Infinite without such an important feature to the Halo community.
Halo Infinite's Road to Launch
Halo Infinite Community Director, Brian "ske7ch" Jarrard, was joined by Head of Creative for Halo Infinite, Joseph Staten, to discuss what to expect during Halo Infinite's launch during their August Development update. They describe that:
Splitscreen (or couch co-op) was absent from the tech preview but will return for launch on consoles only but not on PC due to technical issues
The beauty of a live service is to add and fix things over time
They already have a year-long post-launch content and feature road map worked out
Staten admits that "like multiplayer is this burning heart of Halo, campaign co-op is fundamental to the Halo experience as well." He then goes on to explain their reasoning for delaying such important features of the Halo franchise:
"Unfortunately, as we focused the team for shutdown [mode] 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."
Campaign co-op and Forge were apparently unfinished and not ready for launch because they didn't meet the quality standards that the Halo team and players have set for themselves. Both features, when ready, will be released as part of a seasonal roadmap of planned content for next year, 2022.
They didn't want to ship an unfinished version of these features, however, they already admitted that these features were at the heart of the Halo franchise. So it's obviously upsetting to many that the game itself is still unfinished but will still launch in part this holiday season. Many online have called for the game to simply be delayed again while others are content with a full campaign and free-to-play multiplayer in the meantime.
So when will these features be released?
Campaign co-op: season two or 3 months after launch
Forge: season three or 6 months after launch
While fans would expect these features to be standard by now for Halo games, there's a fine balance between wanting Halo Infinite to release this holiday without yet another delay and waiting another year for these features with nothing to enjoy in the meantime. Understandably, the devs are unhappy with the situation, too.
Bug Fixes and the Future of Halo Test Flights
During this same Halo Inifite's August Development Update, Community Manager, John Junyszek, sat down with Live Producer, Sam Hanshaw, to discuss some of the problems they encounter during their test flights and some of the objectives they're looking to meet with the next one. Some problems that were identified and addressed by 343 Devs after the Multiplayer Technical Preview include:
EXE misconfiguration that caused a 20% performance drop
Issues with GTX 900 series graphic cards (in progress)
Loading issues
Issues getting into matches
Players randomly dropped from matches
An underwhelming and long loading screen (replaced and seen less often now)
Halo Support Site closing at the end of the Multiplayer Technical Preview (it will remain open afterward in the future)
Sam Hanshaw went on to describe what you can expect to see during the next Test Flight:
"You can definitely expect another big-scale flight like this with even more people invited. We're gonna include the same content that we had this time--the bots and the weapons drills--but we're also targeting a full release of 4v4, PvP action and we want to go even bigger and have a big team battle. So those are our targets for the next flight to come"
He also states that they plan on making Halo Infinite into a game that will live on meaning that when they have new ideas that they want to test, they will test them in the same fashion as these Test Flights with player feedback and bug reporting beyond the game's launch. To be a part of these test flights, you must be a part of the Halo Insider Program.
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