Josh Holmes, executive producer on Halo 5, confirmed via Twitter that the final game of Halo 5 will include two player split screen. Now, he hasn’t outright stated that there will be no 4 player local split screen support but its safe to say that there will likely not be support for 4 player split screen.
How will this affect the value and replayability of custom games for local players? I think that it’s going to severely limit those two if there is no support for 4 player split screen. I mean, 343 might as will just remove the option for local custom games if the game will only support up to two player split screen multiplayer. Unless for some reason 343 is adding in bots as part of the spartan IV training simulation for multiplayer to compensate for not having 4 player local split screen support, but I highly doubt that.
How will this effect carry over to online multiplayer? First and foremost, custom games will have more value online in private matches because the player cap will be much higher than the limited two player count locally. Secondly, each system will only be able to produce two players max. This means even in playlists and private matches, only two players will be able to play together from the same screen online.
Now I’m aware that the game is still too far from launch to make such assumptions but its clear that if there really is going to be only two player split screen, then the local multiplayer mode will either be really limited or should be removed completely. Custom games and 4 player local split screen go together like peanut butter and sandwich. 343 should include the OPTION for 4 player split screen locally, despite the negatives such as framerate drops, scaled-down graphics, etc.
Thoughts?