Poll: Why so few split screen games?

[GonzoGamer]

Sure there are still some around but not nearly as many as we used to have. I don't hate online; its convenient & fun but I like to play games with people at my house...in fact, that sometimes seems like the only reason to have a console anymore.
There are so many games that would be great with local multiplayer but don't have them.
Now I can see how online is more profitable for the industry but is that the only reason?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Possibly due to all of the options featured above. Online gaming doubles the revenue; it's easier to get a bunch of people get online from their personal computers anywhere in the world than round them up in a single place; splitting the screen undermines the experience and makes it awkard-ish to share with; by playing online everybody has their own POV, favoring stealth/immersion/team-work... and of course, there's the possibility you just have nobody to co-op, but tons of anonymous people floating online ready to play.

 

[TrevHead]

It's rare I do get to co-op locally with others but it's a feature thats needed in the hobby, especially considering how difficult it is to find ppl to play with online for any game that's slightly niche. Then on the other end of the scale some games are no good been played online due to lag. Shmups is one such genre all those are local co-op (try Jamestown on steam you'll have a blast with 4 players)

But it's not just splitscreen, games are becoming more and more online dependent on every platform. PC has online persistent DRM and Diablo 3, less and less games has LAN play. (can't play MetalSlug XX singleplayer without been signed on to XBLA)

Gears of War 1 is one of the few game to do about everything right for co-op, IIRC it even has system link, the only other game with that feature I know of is the Hybrid Mech Fighting game, Virtual On-OT XBLA.

 

[DazZ.]

With the framerate of splitscreen zombies on Black Ops 2 fluctuating so much I'll go with option 2.

Serious Sam 3 also rapes framerate in splitscreen, still fun though.

 

[daveman247]

Im gonna have to say laziness of devs. They can try and excuse at old console hardware all they like - then halo consistantly comes along and gives you 4 player split screen across ALL modes. AND it still looks good. Maybe they have access to first-party black magic but im not so sure.

 

[Keoul]

I'm going to guess it's because; aside from the whole "We must make them buy more copies!".
-Because screen watchers are assholes and no one likes a screen watcher.
-It requires SOME kind of deformation of the screen, since you're cutting the screen in half it'll look a bit off, either it's not wide enough or not tall enough there's always going to be a problem, often negligible but it can get annoying.

 

[Remaiki]

>.>
Even if you're not a cynic like me, it feels pretty obvious. Why service split-screen when you can get people to pay for internet multi-player?