Why Halo 5 Has No Splitscreen Mode
Halo 5 will do many things, but one thing it can’t run is splitscreen mode, despite every previous game in the Halo series being able to do so. This means no local co-op, or playing multiplayer in the same room with friends.
As you might figure, fans aren’t happy about this. They’ve griped on Twitter to head developers of the game, begging them to throw the feature back in somehow, but the devs haven’t been receptive. Development director Frank O’Connor responded to the tweet “#BringHalo5SplitscreenBack” with the comment, “If we could do it, we would do it. But it is what they call ‘nontrivial.'”
Josh Holmes, executive producer at Halo 5 developer 343 Industries, said the studio had to think long and hard about the decision to drop splitscreen, but ultimately felt they had no choice. “Many of our ambitious goals for Halo 5 would be compromised in a split-screen setting and the time spent optimizing and addressing split-screen-specific issues would take focus from building other parts of the game,” he said. “Game development is a balancing act of resources, time, and technology, and in this case we made the tough decision to sacrifice something that’s been near and dear to us all.”
Halo 5 comes out for XBox One on October 27.