Microsoft surprise-released Halo Infinite's multiplayer mode this week in the form of a beta, and one of the related announcements was that Season 1 will run for a very long time. Related to this, the launch of some of Halo Infinite's delayed features, including Forge and campaign co-op, have been pushed.

　　Season 1 is now expected to run until May 2022, which is months longer than 343's original plan to release a new season every three months. In a blog post, Microsoft's Joseph Staten said it extended the length of the inaugural season to give developers enough time to allow Season 2's content to reach its quality standards and to complete the work on the content "in a healthy and sustainable" way for the developers.

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　　Microsoft had said that campaign co-op is expected to launch in Season 2. Given that Season 2's start-date is now coming later than expected, it seems campaign co-op has been delayed, too. Forge was expected to launch after Season 2, so it, too, has seemingly shifted to a later date. Staten said 343 will make announcements in January about Season 2, as well as its plans for campaign co-op and Forge.

　　Speaking to Eurogamer, Staten confirmed the delays for campaign co-op and Forge.

　　"Yes, we are extending Season 1. So our goal still remains what I said before, which is to ship campaign co-op with Season 2 and Forge with Season 3. But those remain goals," Staten said. "Those remain targets. And we can't commit to any hard dates right now, because as we're seeing with this multiplayer beta, other things might move up in the priority stack for us. If it turns out that our progression system just isn't working the way that we intended, if we need to move some of these bigger rocks sooner, then we as a team will make those decisions and will clearly communicate to our fans why we're why we're doing certain things."

　　Staten went on to say that campaign co-op has been playable for "some time" already, but the team still needs more time to ensure it's ready. "We don't just want to ship a campaign co-op that barely works. We want to ship a campaign co-op that's stable, that's robust, that has the features players expect," Staten said.

　　Season 1 will have more events, cosmetic items, and "other content" coming than previously planned to accommodate the lengthier season. In the first week of Season 1, which is going on now, players can unlock 20th anniversary cosmetics. Additionally, the first event, Fracture Tenrai, will debut on November 23. This will allow players to unlock new samurai-themed cosmetic items.

　　Also in the blog post, Staten explained why 343 is releasing Halo Infinite multiplayer as a beta as opposed to a 1.0 release. Staten said the team wants to make sure all of its back-end systems are ready to go. As is the case with betas, there might be "some bumps and bugs," Staten said.

　　Despite its beta state, Halo Infinite's Season 1 is beginning now as opposed to a preseason release like Call of Duty: Vanguard and Battlefield 2042 are doing. For Halo Infinite, all Season 1 battle pass content and cosmetic items that are unlocked or purchased with real money during the beta will carry forward when the game releases officially.

　　For more, check out GameSpot's guide to installing the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta. Outside of the Halo news, more than 70 games were added to Xbox backwards compatibility today as part of the final update to the program.

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