All new Halo games will be publicly beta tested first, says 343i head

Beta safe than sorry, right?

From here on in, all new Halo games will be preceded by public beta testing. 

“Going forward, you will never see a Halo game coming out without a beta. [Master Chief Collection] was obviously painful for our fans and for us,” 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross told Game Informer. “But it won’t happen again.”

“There is so much we learned with the Halo 5 beta. There is actually stuff we took from our Master Chief Collection — learnings that we were able to put into the [Halo 5: Guardians] beta,” she added.

Ah, yes. Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The game that promised so much, and still didn’t feckin’ work properly three months after release. 

We also found out that the Halo 5 campaign doesn’t have splitscreen co-op, which will really put a damper on my weekly Couch Co-op Tuesday sessions where my friend and I almost exclusively play Halo. Which is just as well, given I couldn’t connect to play The Master Chief Collection online with anyone else. OH, THE IRONY OF THIS DECISION.

Admittedly, it may be a dying trend, but I can’t be the only one who still plays local co-op, right? Will you guys miss it? 

Oh, and you catch the news that Nathan Fillion will be back for Halo 5: Guardians? Yay!

All Future Halo Games Will Have Betas, Says 343 Industries [IGN]