When franchises tend to run for a long time, change is necessary and one of those changes that 343 Industries did with Halo 5: Guardians is the removal of the split-screen feature that was present in older Halo games, and was used for cooperative and competitive multiplayer. The good news is that if you did not agree with the decision, know that the feature will be coming back.Unfortunately it seems that it might be too late for Halo 5: Guardians, but speaking at the DICE Summit, 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross confirmed that split-screen functionality will be coming back in future Halo titles. According to Ross, she was quoted as saying, “I would say for any FPS going out forward we will always have split screen going forward…”
She also said that Halo 5: Guardians and its changes was a painful experience for the company. “We’ve also had a lot of learnings along the way,” Ross said. “You know when we fell down with the multiplayer launch of [Halo: The Master Chief Collection], or when we didn’t put split screen in with Halo 5. I think it’s incredibly painful for the community and for us. It erodes trust with the community, as the community is part of our world building.”
Prior to this, Halo 5’s then-creative director Josh Holmes said that removing split-screen functionality was “one of the most difficult ones we’ve ever had to make as a studio.” So what do you guys think? Are you happy that split-screen will be returning? Or have you already gotten used to it not being there?