343 Industries have finally revealed their long-awaited 2022 Roadmap, including not only details on Halo Infinite Season 2, but on Campaign Co-Op as well.
Halo Infinite Season 2 is almost upon us, due out on May 3, and it looks like it is going to be adding quite a bit. What about the rest of the year, though, what about some nice and juicy mid-Season content (the game's last mid-Season update was an embarrassment, if we're honest), though? Well, luckily for you, 343 Industries have given us a fantastic roadmap that reveals everything we can expect in 2022.
Now, we want to be really clear about a few things: we are going to try and be as accurate to what 343 Industries have revealed as possible. We will not speculate on dates, we will not bulls**t you with anything. Here is an accurate representation, with a little bit of analysis for you to sink your teeth into. If you want to hear it right from the horse's mouth, though, check out their official press release.
So let's start with a little bit of context: earlier this week, 343 Industries revealed the new modes coming in Halo Infinite Season 2, including a new mode that looks a lot like a Battle Royale. Meanwhile, Fracture: Tenrai is coming to an end and a subsidiary developer has announced that they are working on an undisclosed Halo Infinite project. Now that you have heard the most important news, here's what the Halo Infinite 2022 Roadmap reveals to us....
Halo Infinite's 2022 Roadmap
It looks like 343 Industries are taking lessons from Activision in the detailed roadmap they just released for Halo Infinite in 2022, including content that's set for both Season 2 and 3, as well as Forge and Co-Op. Keep in mind that many of the dates set in this roadmap are not one hundred percent set, so take them with a pinch of salt. Here's the roadmap itself:
Let's give you a quick breakdown: Halo Infinite's 2022 Roadmap reveals both what is coming in Season 2 and Season 3, including the targets for Campaign Co-Op and Forge. There are a lot of different things listed here so I am going to take you through them one-by-on.
First we're going to take a look at what's coming in Season 2, because it is right on our doorstep. Then we will take a look at Season 3, what we know, and what we can expect. After that we will conclude with a quick but detailed breakdown of what is going on with Forge and Campaign Co-Op.
What is in the Halo Infinite Season 2 Roadmap?
There is a ton of content coming in Halo Infinite Season 2, and also some stuff that is slated for release, but might not make it until Season 3. Here's the complete list:
- New Maps: Catalyst (Arena) & Breaker (BTB)
- New Game Modes: King of the Hill, Land Grab, & Last Spartan Standing
- Narrative Events: Interference Alpha Pack
- New 100-Tier Battle Pass: Free Armor Core + Earnable Credits
- Fracture Entrenched: Week 1 runs from May 24 to 30.
- Campaign Co-Op (Online): Late August Target
- Campaign Mission Replay: Late August Target
- Forge Open Beta: September Target
- Quality of Life Improvements: Bug Fixes, et cetera.
So 343 Industries have already detailed the new Game Modes and given us a few little nuggets about the new Maps as well. It seems that Season 2 will multiple narrative events that will "place your personal Spartan in the centre of an evolving Seasonal storyline". This sounds an awful lot like what Raven Software have been doing with Warzone, and is certainly and exciting idea.
In summary: we are committed to delivering more content faster; we will accelerate while prioritizing team health; you can expect QoL improvements during Seasons via Drop Pods—and you can expect more regular roadmap updates as our plans snap into sharper focus.
In this month's #HaloInfinite update we're discussing the team's priorities and sharing an initial look what you can expect throughout the remainder of this year - including new details on Campaign Co-Op and Forge. : https://t.co/UdRuH8jstc pic.twitter.com/QXorspnoRC
— Halo (@Halo) April 22, 2022
What is the Halo Infinite Season 3 Release Date & Roadmap?
Halo Infinite Season 3 will be released on November 8, 2022, and we already have the first few details available to us. Not only will we be getting new maps and modes just like in Season 2, but a bunch more stuff as well. Here's the full list:
- New 100 Tier Battle Pass
- New Maps
- New Modes
- New Sandbox Items
- New Narrative Events
- New Fracture Event
- Forge Open Beta
- Quality of Life Improvements
- Campaign Splitscreen Co-Op (Timing TBD)
The key takeaways here are thrice-fold: new Narrative Events are coming to Halo Infinite, Campaign Splitscreen Co-Op is still a ways away, and it looks like Forge will be improved upon. We won't go into too much detail on the latter two subjects (after all, we're devoting entire sections of this article to that) but what we will say is that these narrative events are very exciting, as they will be a great way to keep people in the game.
It looks like we can expect pretty much all of the same stuff in Season 3 that we will be getting in Season 2. The biggest difference is that we may (or may not, it is still up in the air) get the Splitscreen version of Halo Infinite's Campaign Co-Op. We'll still get a new Fracture, new maps, and all of the things we would expect. The biggest question, though, is whether and when will will get a Battle Royale mode.
Halo Infinite Forge Roadmap Details
It looks like the Open Beta for Halo Infinite's Forge mode will launch at some point during Season 2, sometime in September. Whilst that is not a set date and it is likely to change significantly in the coming weeks and months, 343 Industries have also made it clear that they will be expanding upon its sandbox in Season 3, so we imagine that it will at least be out in a limited capacity by October or November. Here's what they said on Forge:
We want to get the Forge toolset into your hands sooner rather than later so that awesome community maps and modes can more rapidly make their way into the game. To make this happen, we’re targeting a Forge open beta later in Season 2. We’ve successfully had Forge in private flighting with a limited audience for some time, so we’ve decided to forgo a large-scale formal flighting program and go right to open beta. With this approach, we can get the core Forge tools out to everyone quicker while also remaining focused on our core priority of continuing to improve foundational aspects of Halo Infinite. Forge will persist from the open beta onwards, evolving and growing over time.
Halo Infinite Campaign Co-Op Roadmap Details
It looks like Halo Infinite's Campaign Co-Op will launch its online version in Season 2, and its Splitscreen version in Season 3. We don't know the exact dates of these either, as 343 Industries have only announced a rough "late August target" for the first version, and have simply said that the Splitscreen version will be out some time in Season 3. This is pretty much all we know, but have been assured that these delays and the ongoing issues with Halo Infinite's launch content are due to the development team focusing and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Halo Infinite Season 3 Delayed According to Roadmap
Finally, we would like to acknowledge that Halo Infinite Season 3 won't come out until November due to 343 Industries making sure that their staff are not overworked and maintain a good work-life balance. This might seem frustrating for people who want the content sooner, but it sounds like this focus on more ethical game development is a really good thing, and we applaud 343 Industries for making sure that their staff are not overworked and are cared for.
We know we need to deliver more content and more features more quickly... With a “priority zero” of team health and getting ourselves into a sustainable development rhythm so that we can deliver great experiences to all of you while maintaining a healthy work/life balance...Staying true to priority zero means that sometimes we need to slow down in order to stay healthy and move faster later. But we’re also aggressively looking at ways to accelerate.
So there you have it folks, everything that you need to know about Halo Infinite's 2022 Roadmap. It seems that we will be getting both Season 2 and Season 3 by year's end, as well as both Forge and Campaign Co-Op both in its online and splitscreen forms. This is a great step forward for the game, and gets us very excited for its future. Honestly, we can't wait to jump into Season 2 on May 3... it's going to be awesome!