Halo Infinite September update reveals new maps and more, couch co-op cancelled

Halo Infinite is getting its “biggest, most robust update since launch” on November 8. Long-awaited features, new toys, more maps, and a third season are all on the horizon for the latest Halo game.

Community director Brian Jarrard sat down with head of creative Joseph Staten and head of live content Sean Baron in a September 2022 update video to talk about all the upcoming stuff (you can watch the full 30-minute discussion at the bottom of this article). Generally speaking, the goal of this update is to make Halo Infinite feel “more rewarding.” That comes into play with small but important additions like match XP, which has been a player request for a long time. You can expect plenty of other quality of life improvements as well.

Halo Waypoint has the handy image you see above, which breaks down the major additions in the winter update and the game’s third season, dubbed Echoes Within. The winter season runs from November 8 through March 7. During that time, Halo Infinite will receive campaign network co-op (which just saw a test flight) and the ability to replay story missions, along with a free, 30-tier Battle Pass and two new maps called Detachment and Argyle. Those could be good places to play Covert One Flag, a new Capture the Flag mode that aims to offer a “spies versus mercs” flavor by giving teams asymmetrical loadouts. Also coming in the winter update is Infinite’s Forge beta, which sports “upwards of 7,000 objects” to play around with, plus logic nodes for programming various scenarios and game types. Considering Forge footage leaked all the way back in February, it’s good that players will finally be able to get their hands on it.

The same can’t be said for couch co-op, however. While network co-op will arrive soon, local split-screen support has been canceled. “In order to improve and accelerate ongoing live service development, and to better address player feedback and quality of life updates, we have reallocated studio resources and are no longer working on local campaign split screen co-op,” 343 Industries explained. It’s sure to be a letdown for some fans, but at least there’s more content coming.

Season 3: Echoes Within will run from March 7 through June 27. More new maps, intended for Arena and Big Team Battle, are coming with that, plus the radar-bypassing Shroud Screen and the rumored M392 Bandit rifle. Echoes Within will also add new Fracture and narrative events, as well as more updates to the Forge beta which will still be ongoing at that time.