Halo Infinite, which launched late last year, is soon to receive its long-awaited cooperative campaign update. Xbox Insiders enjoyed an early access preview of the feature earlier this month, but players came back noting the peculiar lack of matchmaking.
GamesRadar received confirmation in an email from an Xbox representative that this will continue to be the case in the final version. "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."
Halo Infinite's co-op campaign needs matchmaking
The omission of co-op matchmaking won't be an issue for most players, as a lot of us plan to play the campaign with friends. In my case, I have multiple groups lined up to go through it with, so this won't bother me in particular.
However, there are those out there who enjoy jumping in with random members of the playerbase, and they will most certainly be disappointed. I made quite a few friends through Halo 3's matchmaking system when playing the co-op campaign, so it's easy to see why the lack of this feature is a huge issue.
It's also frustrating to expect people to use Discord to find other players. Sometimes you want to jump into a multiplayer experience without using your voice and keeping socialization to a minimum. The feeling of just playing a game with someone is nice, even if you're not chatting with each other. Sometimes people are looking for that kind of tranquility.
Journey showcases this excellently, as it forces the player to bond through strife without speaking or texting. Especially for younger players who don't want to reveal their presence online, it's a great feeling to get to play with others without worrying about that fear. I loved joining random Borderlands games as a kid and just playing, blowing enemies to bits without communicating.
It's also important for those who aren't comfortable with their voice. Not everyone is okay with entering a forum or a Discord server, as having to put yourself out there can be an uncomfortable step. And even if you get that far, some people might not enjoy adding strangers as friends on Xbox, especially if they turn out to be poor their company.
There are many issues with the omission of matchmaking for online co-op, so we can only hope that 343 Studios takes the steps towards including it. Otherwise, we're not sure when Halo Infinite's co-op campaign will become available to everybody, but considering the word "soon" was thrown around frequently in the announcement post this month, we expect to see it anywhere between now and the end of August.
