Poll: No Split-Screen for Halo 5: Big Loss, or No Problem?

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So, GameSpotters. Are you going to miss the split-screen? Or is playing side-by-side too retro for you? Discuss.

The worst possible news...

It's a big problem for me, because now it's impossible to have a group of friends all in the living room playing halo unless you have eight copies of Halo, eight TV's and eight xbox's

It's not a problem for me with my current lifestyle, as I cannot even remember the last time I played a game split screen. I do however totally understand why some, who loved split screen , would find this an issue. I doesn't sound like it was an easy decision for the dev, but it is what it is....they had to do a trade for the experience they wanted, and overall considering how much I enjoyed the beta, I am OK with this...the 60 fps feels great with Halo, and I'm glad the dev is pushing that.

The truth is as much as I love couch coop, I was never a big fan of split screen coop(I do however love same screen coop), I hate losing half my screen, and the last game I played coop heavily was Goldeneye 007 on N64....great memories there.....today is a different world.

@GameSpot: No big deal. Split-screen isn't thing since Combat Evolve and I already pre-order my Halo 5 limited edition copy as it is. Nothings gonna stop me from buying Halo 5.

@xanatos357: Or just get a digital copy of the game, which means two of you can play together, as has been the case with every single Xbox game since launch.

I'm a PC gamer and not a huge Halo fan. From time to time though it's been great to be able to do some split screen Halo with the kids (who are huge Halo fans). I'm sure they'll still play the new one, but we'll be missing a big part of what made the previous ones so much fun.

What a stupid decision

I love Halo and split screen was one of the best features. Now that I'm older, it's rare for a split screen session - so I'm fine with online only. Sucks for the kids this generation that will play 5 as their first game and never know about the split-screen fun.

Considering SPLITSCREEN is a major staple of the Halo games, it really sucks. I own every single Halo and played them all splitscreen as well as online.

New Halo devs 343 are changing things up, CODifying Halo's MP in other ways (Halo 4 and Halo 5 beta felt like Diet COD), and many of these changes are not for the better.

I suppose for Halo 6 they can come off as saviors by including splitscreen again and releasing some PR about listening to feedback.

I have multiple 360s and multiple Xbox 1 OG models. How we'd play HALO since the beginning is one room of four people in on a team. The next room of four is on another team, the next room of four is another team, etc.

This poses a much bigger problem and now Halo LAN parties are a thing of the past. Only one person per Xbone? Time to find other fun LAN games at parties.

I also feel for the kids/teens of this generation not getting to have this feature. I come from a large family, and Halo was one of those fun MP games that even if you didn't have online, was great with four controllers and a copy of the game.

It's a huge bummer.

Group of Friends...EIGHT COPIES, EIGHT TVs, and EIGHT Xboxs.

You are right and I know from experience having game and BBQ parties that Halo 5 is now out of the question which is a bummer. I still have multiple copies of Halo Reach, Halo 1, 2,3, etc though.

He said "group of friends".

He said EIGHT copies, not TWO copies.

Also, one shouldn't have to give up consumer rights to buy a console digital copy of a game instead of buying a sellable/tradable/collectible/rentable/lendable physical copy of the game. Not to mention, digital is way overpriced and expensive compared to physical copies in stores. In fact, it's kinda funny how companies don't have to print a disc, print a case, print a booklet, pay for shipping, pay stores their $10 cut of the game, and still charge the full price for a console DD copy.

What you pointed out was another way of promoting digital over physical assuming you have two Xbones, but at the expense of losing other consumer rights. Either way, your advice wouldn't fix a LAN party situation or help out 8 people.

If you are at a party and the game only accommodates 2 people on two HDTVs and TWO Xbones, people not playing are going to get bored. That's certainly not going to get a TEAM Game going, with only two people.

At a party like that with people present, it's time to change the game to accommodate 8 or more people which I've done many, many times. Previous Halos were great in that respect.

343 is the new developer though and it seems they had other priorities (graphics/framerate/resolution).

haha may be good

to me its not that big of a deal yes i will miss playing with my cousins when they visit but i not stuck in the past living off old memories of what my games used to be like and im ok with halo 5 not having splitscreen. if they say its going to be better because of this (which so far it has been great from what i have played) i will trust them.

Couldn't care less... I only play Halo for SP campaign.

This will be a big loss for them.. All my friends and i usually do an annual halo party where we have the max amount of people in one house and do a huge lan party with like 8 xboxs. I cant believe 343 would do this and they say it would dampen the graphic fidelity of the game. It was like that in halo 3 and 4 and truthfully it wasnt too bad, and it shouldnt compromise one of the key elements of the game. I knew there was something fishy when the beta wasnt splitscreen. If they dont at least announce a patch later date to add splitscreen then i dont know if me or my friends will be purchasing the game.

This will not affect my desire to buy it, although I see this as a loss. One of the things I enjoyed about playing Halo was the splitscreen multiplayer experience at friend's houses at parties. Although I'm more of a homebody these days, I still know people for whom this will be a disappointment.

-Byshop

I'm still buying it, but it's definitely a loss for me. I enjoy playing the MCC with my roommates, it sucks that we won't be able to continue that with Halo 5.

Oh well, I'm not going to be a baby about it. Life goes on.

Probably didn't have time to add it 'cause they were fixing the MCC.

Wish it was included.

HUGE PROBLEM because now my bff and I can't play couch co op with it. Halo is like the only game we have in common.

10 years ago eh, not a problem but loved playing couch MP with friends and family but these days everyone is older, moved to online MP so today it's no problem at all besides, I trust 343 that what they were able to achieve by not having split screen MP was very much worth excluding it from Halo 5.

It still won't stop me from buying Halo 5.Makes no difference.

For me personally it's not such a big deal, but I was still surprised when I heard about it. Especially when all Halo games featured split-screen multiplayer, so this can definitely hurt them.

In years past this would have been big to me. But looking back, I never even played split screen on Halo 4 and maybe a handful of time with Reach I think. Just not a big deal to me anymore.

Or just play one other than Halo 5

I don't know that I'd classify it as a huge loss, given that I haven't played a Halo game split-screen since the original, but I do think it's a rather bad decision, and horribly short-sighted, to not give players that option.

Back when the original Halo was released I had considerably less disposable income, so I was extremely grateful that the game offered split-screen, both for playing through the campaign in co-op with my brother and for those free-for-all deathmatch parties with friends. The fun I had with the original Halo - thanks to split-screen - easily rivaled the fun I had playing Quake with friends on the PC. And, because of split-screen (and LAN support, something that's, sadly, also been getting cut from console games since you can't charge users to buy a subscription to play that way), it was a whole lot easier to have larger parties, since two XBoxes and two televisions was easier to wrangle and way more feasible than taking over the living room with multiple PC towers and monitors. My time with Halo and those experiences remain among my top gaming memories.

If split-screen hadn't been an option back then? Who's to say I'd even give a damn about the Halo franchise today? By killing the option for split-screen in Halo 5, they're potentially cheating the new wave of gamers, the ones who don't have a ton of disposable income now but will sometime down the road, out of those sort of experiences and, in doing so, damaging the franchise and potential sales in the future. Given how much the industry seems to be banking on leveraging nostalgia into profits, what with shitloads of indie games that chase the 8- and 16-bit visuals and/or gameplay and the seemingly neverending flood of remasters and reboots of once beloved games, can any company really afford to sour that market by screwing over the mass consumers of tomorrow?

Of course, if the lack of split-screen really mattered to the majority, if the grumblings of disappointment became a violent roar of outrage and there were serious talks of boycotts backed by a unified front of gamer solidarity, people would get their split-screen. After all, Microsoft holds the leash, and given how they betrayed their own vision and pretty much flipflopped on every aspect that was to define the XB1, I think they've shown they'll sooner give some slack than risk being bit.

Hate it but this is the way games are going nowadays. Gotta deal with it.

Only time I've played halo in the last few years is on split screen. I don't and haven't owned an xbox ever but I love playing halo 3 and earlier's multiplayer with my buddies who do have it and every time I play with them it's split screen. I didn't like the COD like Halo 4 and the fact they are lessoning the features of a game all ready lacking compared to it's best in the series halo 3, makes me think there are far too may people with their hands in the pot making for another shitty COD wana be stew with lack of features and crazy amounts of DLC or frivolous micro transactions.

I have voted not a big deal, it has been a long time since I played Halo co-op on a single TV screen. I must admit, I was very surprised to see such a big percentage of votes against the removal of the local co-op play. Hopefully this can be resolved for those that play this way as it is an issue for couch co-op fans. However, for myself, I play co-op games online mainly, and assumed most people did now, but this poll has opened my eyes somewhat to this.

Is this just for the story mode, or is multiplayer also closed off to split screen?

@Garfield360UK: A few months back 343 revealed there was no local co op for the SP.

Now the latest is that all Splitscreen is removed.

Also, 81% with 3,200+ votes find this to be a huge problem. Wow.

@SolidTy: Ah that's a shame. I have played some online multiplayer on the same screen as friends recently so that is not great they have removed it. I guess with the online side of games getting so much more popular in the last decade or so via consoles, split screen has become less and less implemented into games.

@Garfield360UK: I agree, especially for offline buyers and kids that will grow up with a Halo that lacks the splitscreen feature, which was a Halo Staple until now.

I used to play Halo split-screen pretty regularly, so this really does bum me out tbh.

It's not a big deal to me as I understand the reasoning behind it, they're using a much newer engine and the console is only capable of so much at 60 FPS. They could have reduced the framerate to 30 in these modes to accommodate local split screen and co-op, however they want to maintain a 60 FPS standard for the franchise now and this is what comes a long with that.

its kinda sad how kids play games these days...all in their own homes nobody gets together just play online

Sucks when you have kids that love playing split screen with you. My boy and I were so excited for Halo 5, for me no reason to get it now, as fatherly/work duties don't allow me to hole up alone in the basement for hours playing online. He's to young for COD games, even though he loves them, so thank God for Battlefront. This us a total deal breaker for us, won't be purchasing unfortunately.

@GameSpot: @GameSpot: As I said in the comments of your other article - "Playing split screen with my significant other IS part of a best possible Halo experience for me. He's by far the best co-op partner I could have over anyone online. They've removed the the only reason we play Halo. No amount of extra pixels on the screen or frames per second was worth losing that." So yeah. Big problem.

It's big problem for me. My designated co-op person and partner in crime is... my wife. We are both big games and we kick ass. We get and do all the co-op games. And the Halo franchises has been out favorite. Getting to be able to play co-op means we need to buy a second Xbox and a second copy of the game.--That's not going to happen.

I will miss split screen co-op for Halo 5. But the series will survive without it.

I'm not 12 years old having sleep overs where we stay up all night playing games. I'm an adult, I got XBLG, I can match-make with friends or complete strangers if I must. Besides, I got a comfy chair, an HDTV that I don't have to share the screen with anybody, I prefer it this way. And lastly, if someone in this day and age doesn't have an Xbox One with XBLG to play online and the game itself, I'm not so sure that's the kind of gamer I want to play Halo with anyways.

I'm sad because the biggest enjoyment I got from Halo was playing through the games with my brother. The lack of coop campaign bugs me but splitscreen missing from matchmaking just doesn't make any sense to me and I've decided I'm not going to buy the game. I don't always play with other people on the couch but it just doesn't make sense that they would just cut being able to drop in and out with friends. No one cares about FPS and resolution while doing splitscreen, of course its going to run worse in those situations. Splitscreen costs nothing to those who care about performance because they can still decide to play over live solo.

As it is, there's hardly any split-screen co-op games releasing in the market (RE: Revelations 2 is the only one for the current gen). Was looking forward to the co-op campaign massively and all that is left now is massive disappointment.

I don't play halo, but if i did, this won't be a problem because I have no friends.

I will buy Halo 5 , I'm a big fan and there is no way I miss a Halo game .
BUT it is a big loss . I have great memories playing Halo split screen with my brother , my sister , her husband , and some other friends . Playing Halo reach and 4's campaign with someone else is a really fun experience . I was also thinking about playing Halo with my girlfriend which I met recently , but I guess if I want to play split screen halo on Xbox one , I always have to go back to Masterchief collection's Halo 4 .

Neither, since it depends on what they accomplished by not including splitscreen play. Also, there is plenty of Halo split screen, as well as other games, on the X1.

This was a big deal breaker for me. When I first heard halo was announced, I instantly thought of having my buddies over for some food and finally a good local co-op game. Then they announced no local co-op for the first time in Halo history. I might still buy this game but with killer titles like fallout 4 coming out, I don't know if I want to dedicate my money to this until it at least goes on sale.

Not even sure if I'll buy it anymore.

All my memories of Halo are with friends sitting besides me...343 continues to burn the series into the ground.