Halo Infinite is undoubtedly one of the more well-received big titles that released at the end of 2021, garnering more favorable critical attention than the likes of Battlefield 2042 and Call of Duty: Vanguard. The latest addition to the illustrious franchise, Halo Infinite impressed many with its free-to-play multiplayer and ambitious open world campaign.
However, there were some functionality not included with Halo Infinite at launch that a lot of fans consider staples of the franchise, with the absence of a co-op campaign mode being one of them. Despite being a feature that fans were promised would release shortly after launch, 343 has announced that Halo Infinite's co-op campaign has been delayed for the second time, and will not be releasing with the impending launch of Season 2. With the hype and relevancy of Halo Infinite waning as time goes on, 343 will have to attempt to rebuild the hype for the launch of co-op.
Why Co-op Is So Important for Halo
Halo games being playable through the campaign with a buddy is functionality that has been around since the series' very first title, Halo: Combat Evolved. One of the best aspects of this co-operative element was, especially in more recent titles, the much greater level of replayability that it lended to the different campaigns of the Halo franchise. More notably, the advent of co-op campaigns for Halo facilitated the fantastically difficult phenomenon of the infamous LASO challenge, where players attempt to complete the campaign on Legendary difficulty will all skull modifiers enabled.
Despite how overtly difficult this challenge seems, it has become a beloved element of Halo campaigns from a cooperative perspective, with the level of communication and coordination needed to succeed providing for some of the most rewarding co-op gameplay that there is to offer. LASO aside, the multitude of new game mechanics in Halo Infinite such as the grappling hook are sure to provide an excellent breath of fresh air to co-op gameplay, with many fans understandably wanting to explore the unique open world of Infinite with a group of friends.
How to Rebuild and Maintain Co-op Interest
The hype and anticipation surrounding a co-op update to Halo Infinite is always going to decrease with the passing of time. However, 343 has a very effective tool at its disposal to rebuild this hype, the popular free-to-play multiplayer that Halo Infinite offers.
One of the main factors of Halo Infinite's multiplayer is the deep and varied level of customization that players can utilize to modify their Spartan appearance. However, with the majority of any tangible customization offers coming through the multiplayer Battle Pass service, fans were very disappointed in the microtransaction necessity of Infinite's multiplayer customization.
This provides a very shrewd opportunity for 343, in which it could provide unique and attractive Spartan armor unlocks for co-op campaign-related achievements, with LASO being a good example. If players could unlock challenge-specific armor for completing something like LASO, it would provide a level of earned customization more akin to previous Halo games, whilst incentivizing people to play the co-op campaign to get new cosmetics and stand out from the crowd.
With the co-op campaign missing its most recent intended deadline of the launch of Halo Infinite Season 2, it makes all the more sense that 343 should provide unique armor unlocks tied specifically to the co-op campaign. As opposed to releasing it around a time saturated with Battle Pass unlocks, the eventual release of the co-op mode is worthy of its own standalone update to drive focus and rebuild interest even further.
Halo Infinite is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.