Halo Infinite’s Winter Update has arrived, bringing with it online campaign co-op, but what about the couch co-op option this series has always had? Players found they could play locally with each other via a glitch months ago, so what’s the hold-up? Well, in a recent interview with IGN, Halo Infinite live service lead Sean Baron provided an answer – polishing couch co-op to 100 percent would be hard and 343 Industries doesn’t want to put in the effort. That may sound like a harsh assessment, but, well, that’s pretty much exactly what he says.
“We of course were working on it for many, many months — years — on couch co-op, and there are a lot of challenges there from a technical perspective. What people were able to glitch into is probably an 80 percent [finished product], but the amount of work for us to get from an 80 percent quality to 100 percent quality is significant. The amount of effort that would take right now is not something can commit to. I’m not even sure how long it would take.
There are things where even if we have just a few crashes, I’m not sure what platform [people] were playing on, because we would have to support all platforms. That’s not maybe even something we could get through our certification passes.”
So, don’t expect Halo Infinite couch co-op anytime soon, even though the mode is largely finished. Another thing you shouldn’t expect anymore? Bots. Following the new Winter Update, the Bot Bootcamp playlist that let you go up against AI opponents on multiplayer maps, has disappeared. While this playlist was largely offered as a training ground for new players, a lot of folks continue to enjoy it as a lower-stress option where new techniques and weapons could be tried out.
Of course, it’s not all bad news for Halo Infinite. The Winter Update adds a number of welcome features, including online campaign co-op, Forge, and a couple new multiplayer maps. You can get more information on the Winter Update here.
Halo Infinite can be played on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Winter Update is available now.
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