Fans say Halo is a party game first as 343i focuses on PVP competition

Halo fans are objecting to 343 Industries' focus on competitive PVP, saying that Halo is and always should be a game that's fun and you can play with friends.

Yesterday 343i delivered a disappointing update to Halo fans: Halo Infinite's split-screen co-op has been cancelled, effectively cutting out a big portion of local play. Infinite is now the only Halo game not to feature split-screen campaign co-op. It does however support four-player split-screen multiplayer but only on the Xbox Series X/S. The Xbox One version is limited to just two players.

Comments made in the developer announcement video also ruffled some feathers, namely the messaging behind Halo being a competitive game first and foremost. Fans chimed in the video's comment section to voice their concerns, saying that Halo has really been more about sharing, camaraderie, and aloof fun rather than the white-knuckled high-stress esports action that influenced Infinite's development.

"We're a very competitive game. That's our DNA. That's who we are. You go back all the way to the very first Halo...it is a highly competitive game," live services director Sean Baron said in the video.

"We want an experience where players can expect the game is competitive and fair, and skill and teamwork should be the path to victory. That doesn't mean abandoning social players. That's not what that means, but it is about fairness and competition."

Fans had this to say in the comments section:

"They need to make Halo a party game you can enjoy with friends again. That's what made all of Bungie's Halo games so great."

"Halo was a party game, not a competitive game... That was why it was so much fun to play with friends!"

"No, Halo at its best has always been fun first, competitive 2nd, the competitive scene evolved around a game people actually wanted to sit down and play with their buddies in the first place. This is a critical misunderstanding of franchise identity that must be resolved."

Halo is more than a monetized live service game with endless replayability. From the get-go, 343i said that Halo Infinite was being developed with the core Halo principles in mind, namely hope, wonder, and myster.

"We really wanted to have more hope, more mystery, more wonder, more agency, more heroism, and more symbolism in the trailer. We really wanted to focus on that feeling of being able to have a living world at your fingertips and to get back to what Halo 1 espoused," Halo narrative experiences director Dan Chosich said in 2018.