Halo Infinite has struggled with its online modes since its launch, but 343 Studios planned to change that by adding a co-op mode for the game’s campaign. But it seems like even that might be a half-hearted inclusion.
The initial target for the new multiplayer modes was originally July 11th. Still, after so many delays for both the Forge mode and the co-op campaign for Halo Infinite, the concurrent player numbers fell far below what 343 Studios would have liked. All that was expected to change with the new additions to the game’s online modes, but that might also not go as well as expected since most players won’t be able to find anyone to play the game with in the first place.
This means that you will need to call in your actual friends to join you for you to be able to play Halo Infinite’s co-op campaign since you won’t be able to find any online because of the lack of online matchmaking. This was confirmed by an Xbox representative in an email to GamesRadar who said:
“Online matchmaking will not be available with final co-op; we encourage you to continue to use the Halo LFG and the new Discord voice call feature on Xbox to find players to party up with as you continue playing the beta.”
Why 343 Studios?
It would have been understandable if the option was not added to the beta version, but not adding it in the final release seems like a glaring omission, one that doesn’t have any reasonable explanations. Perhaps it was to push the Discord integration further or to encourage players to use Discord who usually don’t. Whatever the case may be, this is an objective error on the developer’s part.
This means that the only way to play the co-op mode would require you to get another friend back into the game or make new friends through Discord who might be willing to give it a go.
This coupled with the problems the game has been facing since launch, the content drought as well as the data usage issues (planned to be fixed in August), Halo Infinite already isn’t in a very strong position, and decisions like this could alienate the fans even more.