Halo 5 Drops Split-Screen, Requires Xbox Live Gold for Online Co-Op

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Halo 5 Drops Split-Screen, Requires Xbox Live Gold for Online Co-Op

343 Industries executive producer Josh Holmes has corrected a previous statement that Halo 5: Guardians online co-op would be available to players with an Xbox Live Silver account.

"I misspoke during the interview when stating that online co-op campaign would be supported with an Xbox Live Silver account," Holmes wrote in a blog post earlier today [https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/clarity-regarding-halo-5-guardians-online-co-op-access]. "Co-op campaign will require Xbox Live Gold to play. I want to extend my sincere apologies to our fans, and to Game Informer, for this error and any confusion it has caused."

Holmes went on to say that it is important to 343 Industries that fans have the opportunity to try the full co-op campaign, and will be providing a complimentary 14 day Xbox Live Gold trial with Halo 5: Guardians purchases. Any fans who wish to play online co-op long term will need to purchase an annual subscription [http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.288505400?VID=288505500&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=45-59055212-2&WT.mc_id=US_datafeed_Google] at $59.99.

In addition, Halo 5 will not support split-screen co-op according to the Game Informer cover story [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/06/09/july-cover-revealed-halo-5-guardians-923520.aspx]. This marks the first time a main Halo game hasn't supported split-screen co-op since the series began.

Softening these blows, however, is the knowledge that 15 complimentary DLC maps, which are expected by June 2016, will be made available in addition to the 20 multiplayer maps expected to accompany the title's launch. "The people that have the map pack can play together but the people who don't cannot. That to us is a real problem. So we're delivering all the maps to all players free so everybody will be able to play together. That, we feel, is really important to having a great multiplayer ecosystem."

Halo 5: Guardians is scheduled for release on October 27 for Xbox One.


[UPDATE June 11] Game Informer is a subscription magazine. To read the full Halo 5 article and interviews, you will need to purchase a copy, either in print or for digital download.

Permalink

 

[Glaice]

Why? After all of this why does Microsoft have to go and screw over the fans with even more money gouging for co-op?

 

[Supernova1138]

Well given the Xbox One's rather small install base thanks to Microsoft's many boneheaded decisions, it looks like they're going to try to squeeze as much as they can out of the fans they do have left. I guess that's the only way they can hope to make back whatever horribly bloated amount of money they are spending on making Halo 5.

 

[The_Darkness]

Honestly, after Halo 4 swapped out offline-capable Firefight for the online-required Spartan Ops, this doesn't surprise me in the least. Halo used to be a brilliant friends-couch-splitscreen series. Seems that 343 and Microsoft are moving away from that. Ah well, at least we've still got Reach.

All that said, I don't have an Xbox One, but it's worth noting that this decision doesn't exactly encourage me to buy one.

 

[Bat Vader]

If Microsoft and 343 Industries wanted to be awesome and earn some points with gamers they would make it so that it only requires a silver account to play online co-op.

 

[RJ 17]

Didn't like the fact that the Master Chief Collection was a festering pile of broken dog crap? Well I hope your health insurance is up to date because you're going to want to see a proctologist once you see what we've got in store for you with Halo 5! You want to enjoy some couch co-op like you've been able to in every game up until now? TOO BAD! Instead we're going to frame you for MURDER!

 

[Alek The Great]

If I'm not mistaken, it's 4-player split screen that's out and instead there's only 2-player split screen for both coop and multiplayer, which is a bummer but is the only thing they've changed compared to previous Halo entries in terms of features (unless they drop forge and theatre mode for some reason but that would be surprising). I don't mind 2-player split screen coop, but I really wanted 4-player split screen MP, cuz 2-player makes LAN parties a bit tougher.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I don't blame them keeping online co-op to Gold, but - being a tad sentimental - a lack of splitscreen feels like a bit of a betrayal of Halo's roots and spirit. Splitscreen Halo CE got me back into console gaming.

If I'm not mistaken, it's 4-player split screen that's out and instead there's only 2-player split screen for both coop and multiplayer...

If that's true, then I'm fine with that.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Splitscreen co-op was one of the reasons why I became a Halo fan in the first place. It seems my decision to "Finish the Fight" with Halo: Reach has once again been validated.

 

[Stupidity]

On a "%*&@ You" scale of 1 to 10 this is a ten.
Split screen was half the fun of the original Halo.
I had no plans to buy halo 5 as the Prometheus enemy was just dumb bullet sponges, but this is a huge nail in the coffin.

 

[Janaschi]

There gets to be a point in every business, where they get so big, that they should be reminded that they once catered to their customers, and made them as happy as possible in order for their business to grow - even if it meant losing just a little of their profits/possible profits.

I stopped paying for Gold a long time ago, as in I refuse to get Gold anymore, after they re-activated my membership without my permission, after I canceled it before going on a 4 month trip to Norway. Guess when I got around to finding that out? So I probably will have little interest in this game since co-op with my brother/dad/friends was one of the main attraction points for me in Halo.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Yeah...I saw this on The Know during the video and they made no mention of it. Just a quick flash of "Co op campaign will not require Gold" but they passed right over that. I thought that was kind of HUGE, so I went back and paused the screen. Directly under the article title, there was an update saying it was a mistake. Sad.
But I think it's a good idea to give everyone a free two week pass with the game, just to try it out.

On to something that wasn't mentioned here: Despite the rest of this forum post, the news released today about Halo 5 actually bumped my interest up a lot. Apparently they're finally introducing the remaining Spartan IIs into the game. Fred, Kelly, and my favorite, Linda. Dibs on the sniper!

Still not sure that it's enough to make me buy a Xbox One, but it is a huge step toward the purchase for me. Just need a few more games...

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

As someone who played tons of split screen co-op and multiplayer (and lots of LAN games) in the previous Halo titles, I find dropping the split-screen about as offensive as that DRM system they tried to pull on us two years ago.

The industry has been pretty bad in the past decade about dropping 4 player split-screen, LAN, and finally two player split, all so every player will have to have their own console, a copy of the game, and a subscription to a paid service that still offloads hosting duties to one of the players (which leads to hi-larious shenanigans when it can't find anyone with a good connection to everyone else). It's nickle and diming at its finest. Even worse is we got maybe a little under fifteen years, from the N64 to when this started on 7th consoles, where you didn't need to buy another accessory to split 2 controller ports into 4.

Good to know MS/343 still isn't out to please what customers they have left. If an xbone magically appeared in my lap, Halo 5 would not be something I would even think about buying.

Edit: fixed a typo that further showed my mindset about this corporate swindling

 

[Sinister Minister]

Wait, wait, wait. This is just for the co-op campaign, right? There will still be split-screen multiplayer, right?

They're not really gonna screw over all of their fans like this...right?!

 

[Erttheking]

http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc8aenEtjY1rgzhe0o1_500.png

A series that has quite of history of split-screen gets split screen dropped for arbitrary reason. Microsoft, I KNOW I was smart to not buy an Xbone and not trust you. You don't need to keep reminding me.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Isn't playing video games with your buddy suppose to bring people closer? I feel as though developers are deliberately trying to keep friends, families, and people as physically far away from each other as possible.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well the co-op is regrettable and you should write many strongly worded letters to the dev over it.
But Xbox has hijacked all thins online for a decade now... it's a bit late to cry foul.

 

[linkblade91]

(a little copy-pasta from my Facebook comment)

Thirty-five maps?! Thank you, that totally makes up for you taking out a core feature of a FPS game, the split-screen multiplayer.

What do I need friends for when I can play with rude, abusive strangers in all these exciting locales.

"The people that have the map pack can play together but the people who don't cannot. That to us is a real problem. So we're delivering all the maps to all players free so everybody will be able to play together. That, we feel, is really important to having a great multiplayer ecosystem."

Glad to see we have our priorities straight; I was worried for a minute there.

 

[Alek The Great]

I don't blame them keeping online co-op to Gold, but - being a tad sentimental - a lack of splitscreen feels like a bit of a betrayal of Halo's roots and spirit. Splitscreen Halo CE got me back into console gaming.

If I'm not mistaken, it's 4-player split screen that's out and instead there's only 2-player split screen for both coop and multiplayer...

If that's true, then I'm fine with that.

Josh Holmes said in a tweet in December that there is 2-player split screen, but I'm not sure if that's changed. I'm also not sure where people get the no split-screen info from because that GameInformer article that's linked doesn't seem to indicate that? I still would very much prefer 4-player, but then again most games have cut out split screen altogether so I'm hoping for 2-player at least.

 

[Viper1265]

Genius! Whoever came up with this one deserves a golden 6-pointed star badge for their idea (because 6 points are better than the traditional 5). Let everyone in the office know who the valuable employees are.