Halo Infinite split-screen co-op canceled

Co-op has always been the best way to enjoy Halo. Playing Halo campaigns with friends — be it online or sitting next to them on the couch — has been the definitive way to experience the storied franchise, and it’s been a staple since the original Halo, Combat EvolvedIn 2001.

Halo 5: Guardians dropped split-screen co-op when it was released in 2015, though, and it sounds like a decision 343 Industries has regretted — the company outright promised never to do that again, in fact. Yet now, the studio is canceling its planned split-screen co-op update for 2021’s Halo InfiniteHowever, the online cooperative mode of operation will be available between November and March. In a Thursday video, the studio revealed these details.

“We’ve had to make the difficult decision to not ship campaign split-screen co-op and take the resources that we would use on [split-screen co-op] and go after this list and all of these other things,” Halo InfiniteJoseph Staten, creative lead said it all in reference to the below-mentioned list.

In 2017, 343 Industries studio head Bonnie Ross called Halo 5: Guardians a “painful learning experience,” and vowed that all first-person games from the studio, moving forward, would include the feature. Brian Jarrad, community director at the studio, reiterated this promise in an Xbox Wire blog post from E3 2019.

The post contains details on 343 industries Halo Infinite’s Slipspace engine, which was built specifically to support the future of the Halo franchise — and a major part of that was “the long-awaited return of split-screen support.”

It’s absolutely a bummer to see split-screen co-op tossed aside again, but it’s clear that 343 Industries has had some issues getting co-op to work just right on Halo Infinite — a huge, sprawling game. Halo Infinite’s co-op campaign has been delayed multiple times, alongside the game’s beloved Forge mode. Online co-op is set to arrive in the middle of November or March. This follows its beta period which ended in August. Forge will also be available for testing in November.