Halo 5: Guardians has been out for nearly a week, but fans of the game are a bit peeved by the lack of split-screen multiplayer still.
In a recent video interview with Gamesradar, Halo 5 director Frank O'Connor stated that split-screen co-op play will not be coming out for Halo 5: Guardians at all. "Realistically for Halo 5, it's not something we can just throw in a patch." states O'Connor. "The simulation the game runs at is 60 frames per second...it's just not feasible with the engine works."
O'Connor goes onto say that even if split-screen were possible, it is just not worth the effort due to the number of fans who would utilize it. O'Connor claims that the real numbers for fans would also be low.
However, O'Connor is open to having future games in the Halo franchise in having split-screen, fully admiting that the response to removing it from the game was overwhelming. "So we'll talk about it for the next and we'll talk about it for the future," states O'Connor. "But it really is a giant technical hurdle and not a trivial thing."
The lack of split-screen in Halo 5 was first announced back in June by O' Connor, who stated that the split-screen co-op play was scrapped to keep the games framerate down to 60 FPS. Other graphical compromises were made to also keep the framerate from dipping, but the backlash over the lack of split-screen was large. The forums were filled with complaints over this, including a change.org petition requesting 343 Industries to add split-screen back into the game.
Split-screen co-op has been a part of the Halo franchise since Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox back in 2001. This is the first time a split-screen mode has been removed from the franchise, although 343 Industries has added several new multiplayer modes into the mix of Halo 5, including the new warzones and fight for the core modes.
Currently, Halo 5: Guardians is available for the Xbox One, and has been getting good reviews across the board, including our own Andrew Stretch.
So what do you think about this news? Do you think the next Halo game will have split-screen? Leave your comments below.