343 Industries has confirmed that Halo Infinite will not feature matchmaking for co-op games once the feature leaves beta. The company is encouraging users to make use of Discord to get parties together when tackling The Banished.
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LFG
After months of waiting, developer 343 Industries introduced beta support for co-op in Halo Infinite last week. While limited to users that are Xbox Insiders, it worked across both console and PC and was generally seen as stable enough for release. Considering its beta status, it made sense that matchmaking wasn’t available just yet, but it seems that option won’t materialize in the final version.
Assemble your fireteam and battle the Banished in the ongoing #HaloInfinite Campaign Networking Co-Op flight, featuring Mission Replay! Complete your collectibles, replay your favorite missions, and more – all with your friends. pic.twitter.com/MYUEqKePvX
— Halo (@Halo) July 22, 2022
In a statement to GamesRadar, an Xbox rep 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.” For those unaware, Discord support was added to Xbox just a few days ago (again, for Xbox Insiders) and acts as an alternative to using the console’s built-in chat functions. Discord has more functionality beyond simply voice chat (such as the aforementioned LFG feature), but isn’t a true alternative to matchmaking.
Lonewolf
For users with friends, a lack of matchmaking for Halo Infinite’s co-op won’t be a huge loss. You’d simply call your friends up and create a private lobby anyway. Those that don’t have friends readily available will have to suffer, however. In a strange twist of fate, this is actually similar to Halo creator Bungie’s Destiny and how its raids didn’t have matchmaking functionality until the sequel. Features like this have been standard in online titles for close to two decades now, so we’ve taken them for granted. When they go missing, it feels antiquated.
