Halo Infinite Campaign Co-Op Won't Have This Important Feature
After witnessing multiple delays and a ton of fan anticipation, "Halo Infinite" finally launched the campaign co-op as a public beta testing mode just over a week ago, alongside the mission replay system. However, if you're looking to squad up with fellow online Spartans, there's some bad news: there's no online matchmaking system for the campaign co-op mode.
What this means is you will have to bring in your own friends to engage in a multiplayer team co-op mission. If you don't have any mutuals interested in a round of campaign co-op, the only other way is to shoot random requests in Discord channels and social media communities to find teammates. Moreover, if you're hoping that the status quo will change with the final version, well, that's not happening either. "Online matchmaking will not be available with final co-op," an Xbox team spokesperson reportedly told GamesRadar.
The spokesperson further advised players to use the new Discord Voice feature on Xbox to find new teammates. Campaign co-op mode has been a staple of the series, and it is where the true "Halo" fandom lies, which makes the decision feel even more disappointing. "Halo Infinite" fans waited a long time for the campaign co-op mode to go live, but the absence of online matchmaking makes it an oddly half-baked implementation because it is now harder to find players interested in a team campaign.
Bad news with a sliver of silver lining
For players who have a circle of friends who have embraced the game, this is not an issue, but new entrants to the franchise will have a tough time convincing random strangers on Discord to play the campaign with them. While the absence of online matchmaking for campaign co-op mode is a bummer, there's also a positive side to it. Games with online matchmaking are rife with instances of abuse and verbal harassment because you never know how a random player in a team-based campaign is going to behave once the battle begins.
If you are interested in trying out "Halo Infinite's" campaign co-op mode, make sure you're registered to the "Halo" Insider program. It is free to join and all the information you need is available on this detailed resource page. However, if that sounds too much of a trouble, you can wait until August for the final version to roll out widely for all players.
Also, keep in mind that this is a beta testing phase we are talking about here, which means bugs and performance issues will be present. Once you have registered for the Insider Program, you will have to install a test build of the game that will let you access the campaign co-op mode, just the way you would do for Preview builds of Windows 11.