Why are there so few splitscreen PC games?

[Robeltu]

I understand that it takes time to integrate split-screen into an engine and some are just not capable, but I can't for the life of me figure out why games that have split screen on the consoles don't have it on PC.

Do publishers think all PC gamers are massive introverts or is it more of a hardware thing, I know a lot more about software then I do about hardware but I can't figure out how a PC that surpassed a console in every aspect couldn't handle split screen.

Games like Left 4 Dead 2; the split screen integration is great on the consoles, but all we have on the PC are clunky mods, I know people work hard on mods, I mod games too, but a splitscreen mod will never be as good as a split screen implemented into the core of the engine so that the other features work around it.

What do you think?

Captcha - "get over it" Wow thanks captcha good to know my questions are so important to you :'(

 

[Doom972]

Laziness. They won't do it because they don't feel like it's worth their time. I'd love to have split-screen in games.

Left 4 Dead and Portal 2 have split-screen via console commands BTW.

 

[AD-Stu]

Couple of reasons come to mind.

First is that traditionally PC controls don't lend themselves very well to the concept. If you've even got a game controller on your PC, you've rarely got more than one of them. I've never heard of anyone that has more than one mouse. And sharing half a keyboard each is... cramped, to put it mildly.

Second, consoles play through televisions, which have always been much bigger than the average computer monitor and these days they're MUCH bigger. Most PC monitors would show a pretty small picture if you split them.

Third, PCs haven't really NEEDED to use splitscreen multiplayer. Internet connectivity is a (relatively) new thing in consoles but it's been around for decades on PC. And even without the internet, the traditional way PC gamers have always gotten together to play games in the same room is the LAN, not splitscreen.

Quite simply, there are much better ways to achieve the same outcome, and there have been for years and years. Demand for the feature is small as a result, and that's probably why nobody bothers to implement it in PC games.