The developers of Halo Infinite have issued an update on the game’s upcoming content and in essence, everything is delayed and split-screen is canceled.
Among the fondest memories of almost every Xbox gamer is playing split-screen Halo with their friends and siblings after school. The game has always been regarded as one of the best couch co-op games. It's a shooter where pulling the infamous 360 no-scope on your buddy would lead to violence on the couch.
When split screen mode was dropped from Halo 5, the backlash from the player base was palpable. In fact, it was such a bad decision, that 343 studios promised never to do it again and proclaimed that Split-Screen co-op would be a part of every Halo title to release. Earlier today, that promise was broken.
Halo Infinite's release at the end of 2021 triggered a huge surge of interest. It was the first Halo title to release on the new generation of Xbox consoles, after all. But the content dried out and updates have been slow.
The Halo community is pretty disgruntled with how Halo Infinite is being handled. The developers released a developer update on the state of the game and the plan for the future in the form of a roadmap. A most controversial omission from this Roadmap is the Local Split-Screen Co-Op.
The Halo Infinite Fall/Winter Roadmap
Halo Infinite has been very slow with its content updates. For a game that aspires to be a Live Service title, being only on its second season of content in nearly a year is far from expectations. In particular when it has competitors like Apex Legends and Valorant.
The community has remained pretty divided by the roadmap as well. The road map has Season 2 ending on on November 8th, but Season 3 only scheduled to arrive on March 2023. That being said, they do have plans to release some content during the interim. This content includes the following features:
- Two in-game events - Winter Contingency II (December) and Joint Fire (January)
- One new game mode - Covert One Flag
- General Quality of Life Improvements
This isn't much, and new content has been slow to release already. So it's safe to assume that 343 Industries are banking on Season 3 content to bring the game back up to speed.
Halo without Split-Screen Couch Co-Op is like Forza without Cars
The most disappointing aspect of the roadmap for the community is the developer's decision to drop split-screen co-op. Couch co-op has been the heart and soul of the Halo Games ever since their inception and it seems the developers have broken their promises here.
Their reasoning for this is that they want to focus on the live-service aspects of the game. It's true that the game in its current state is a failure as a live service. Halo Infinite struggles to retain player counts and the developers have been slow to release new content.
343 Studios is also struggling to address several issues around the game's multiplayer experience. These include but are not limited to desync problems, along with a small selection of weapons and maps. The developers have also delayed the launch of the campaign co-op mode, a long awaited feature.
Halo Infinite is increasingly looking like a beta released under the garb of a full AAA title that the developers are struggling to complete on time. Almost a year since its release, there hasn't been much in terms of content. And by the looks of their latest roadmap, it looks like it'll be quite a while longer without substantial content updates.
The state of the game was exactly the same in March as well, when players were complaining about the lack of content. The developers issued an update explaining their priorities. Come September, the situation is exactly the same.