The Official Splitscreen Thread

Games Halo 5: Guardians
982

> 2533274829339976;1:
> Welcome to the Official Splitscreen Thread.
> (Please make yourself at home.)
>
> We’ve all heard the news: Halo 5 won’t support 4 player split screen, according to multiple tweets from Josh Holmes. We have to take Holmes’ words seriously because he’s the creative director for Halo 5, meaning that he makes those kinds of decisions.
>
> As an individual who uses 4 player split screen often, this decision is extremely disappointing; it’s a shame because I loved the beta. The fact is, Halo 5’s lack of splitscreen support discourages me from buying it, and might prevent me from buying it. I certainty won’t pre-order it.
>
> Here’s the deal: if 343 wants our support, their going to have to reconsider this decision.
>
> Reasons to support 4 player splitscreen:
>
> - 343 will get my money
> - Splitscreen is one of the few advantages that console gaming has over PC gaming
> - Halo 5 will have a feature that its competition lacks
> - LAN parties will once again prosper
> - The social lives of gamers will flourish
> - Every single Halo FPS has featured 4 player splitscreen
> - Not including it for performance reasons makes the Xbox One seem like an inferior console
> - From a logical standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to remove splitscreen on next gen hardware
> - Splitscreen was one of the major reasons that allowed Halo Combat Evolved to be successful
> - Halo night will live on
> - Including split screen due to consumer backlash can help improve 343’s abysmal public relation reputation
> - The lack of 4 player split screen could be considered a design flaw
> - A considerable amount of split screen users are willing to sacrifice graphics for performance
> - Single player graphics won’t be effected by split screen optimizations
> - Removing it makes the game less flexible
> - Splitscreen is a great way to advertise the game to friends, making them likely to buy it after playing it on your Xbox
> - 1v1 multiplayer isn’t a particularly memorable experience
> Todo List for Optimizing Splitscreen
>
> - Lock the split screen frame rate at 30 FPS to provide a consistent experience and allow the user’s brain to adapt
> - Disable anti aliasing, anistereopic filtering, depth of field, FXAA and dynamic lighting on split screen
> - Reduce/remove particles, mist/smoke effects, decals, and shaders on split screen
> - * Important: Use reduced-polygon meshes on split screen. Most 3D modeling programs have a plugin that will do this.
> - Reduce the render distance but don’t go crazy on it. We should be able to spot other players across the map. (Geometry can simplify, but make sure that players are distinguishable.)
> - Use low-res textures on split screen but make that they aren’t loaded at runtime.
> Raising Awareness for Splitscreen
> The developers at 343 don’t browse these forums on a regular basis, and frankly, I don’t blame them. The problem is, they won’t see this thread. In order to effectively convince 343, we need to use social media to contact them.
>
> I’ve created a hashtag on Twitter for our cause: #Halo5SplitScreen. Hash tags are powerful and spread quickly.
>
> In order to raise awareness, tweet why you support split screen to @Halo, @JoshingtonState (Josh Holmes), @Brav, etc. Be respectful and polite: you catch more bees with honey. Be sure to provide a link to this thread because it contains valuable information. Also, include the hashtag I mentioned.
>
> References to split screen from 343
>
> - https://twitter.com/joshingtonstate/status/545000766969114625
> - https://twitter.com/joshingtonstate/status/551899554191142912
> - https://twitter.com/joshingtonstate/status/546126391201128448
> - In the July 2015 issue of GameInformer, it was revealed that there would be no split screen coop; however, 2 player split screen would still be available for multiplayer
> - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=167186284&highlight=#post167186284
> - https://twitter.com/franklez/status/608840793487347712
> I’ll add to the OP once my Writer’s Block clears up.
>
> Until then, let us come together and prove to Josh Holmes and the rest of 343 Industries that this is unacceptable.

*they’re

983

On a side note, I will miss splitscreen, but for a while now local co-op has not been the focus of gaming in general.

984

> 2533274805118013;984:
> On a side note, I will miss splitscreen, but for a while now local co-op has not been the focus of gaming in general.

yup

985

This thread is going strong, keep it going.

986

<mark>This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not post spam.</mark>

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

Sign this petition for splitscreen. Microsoft, 343 Industies, Bonnie Ross, Kiki Wolfkill, Microsoft Studios: Add Split-Screen Co-Op - Sig… [<mark>Link Removed by a moderator</mark>]

987

Everyone is kind of wasting there breath, if you’re lucky maybe 343 will patch in split screen several months after launch and heavily downgrade the campaign for you all just so you can enjoy it in your precious split screen. Although by then you will all probably have either A moved on or B just gotten over it and be enjoying the new campaign how it is supposed/intended to be played.

988

<mark>Do not make violent/threatening posts.</mark>

> 2535440955887524;9:
> 343
> Why can’t you do things right?

sign.
why? 343, why?
I’ve already felt regret few times that I’ve bought XB1 because of this fails with MCC, and now I see this - no split screen. Are you kidding me? Are you fvcking kidding me?
I don’t ask you to add split screen, 343. I don’t ask you for that…
I just ask you to go and kill yourself for the sake of humanity and all Halo fans. Pleeeeaaaaseeeeeeeeee!

989

Split screen Halo has never been Iconic for me, I left that back on the Nintendo 64 :slight_smile: just sayin it more about combat evolving hence the name
Halo Combat Evolved :slight_smile:

990

> 2535429756019039;839:
> > 2533274938678576;835:
> > I’m so glad that my "it’s not going to happen’ stance was correct.
> > I’m also SOOOOO much happier that it’s going to refuse to cater to you people and ruin the 60fps, just because you want to play with a friend the cheap way.
> >
> > <3 343.
>
>
> And here we go with the, “you guys are cheap because you guys won’t drop another $400 for another Xbox and $60 for another game so that you can play with the same person who is in the same room as you”.

It’s more… You’re too cheap to have an xbox one to play XBOX ONE games, and then spend 60$ on a game that you want to play. Instead, you wish to be able to play together with someone, without actually paying for it. That’s you being cheap. I’m GLAD that it’s gone. I’m soooooo happy, because of threads like this. With how a majority of you claimed you wouldn’t play unless it was there.
Well… I bet I still see you online. I bet you can’t follow through with your threats. Bahahaha. :smiley: Thank you based 343.

991

> 2533274910272853;989:
> > 2535440955887524;9:
> > 343
> > Why can’t you do things right?

Seriously ?? Thought so :slight_smile:

992

> 2533274938678576;991:
> > 2535429756019039;839:
> > > 2533274938678576;835:
> > > I’m so glad that my "it’s not going to happen’ stance was correct.
> > > I’m also SOOOOO much happier that it’s going to refuse to cater to you people and ruin the 60fps, just because you want to play with a friend the cheap way.
> > >
> > > <3 343.
> >
> >
> > And here we go with the, “you guys are cheap because you guys won’t drop another $400 for another Xbox and $60 for another game so that you can play with the same person who is in the same room as you”.
>
>
> It’s more… You’re too cheap to have an xbox one to play XBOX ONE games, and then spend 60$ on a game that you want to play. Instead, you wish to be able to play together with someone, without actually paying for it. That’s you being cheap. I’m GLAD that it’s gone. I’m soooooo happy, because of threads like this. With how a majority of you claimed you wouldn’t play unless it was there.
> Well… I bet I still see you online. I bet you can’t follow through with your threats. Bahahaha. :smiley: Thank you based 343.

It’s cheap from me to want to play with my brother on our console,which we bought together? I’m terrible sorry,but I guess I just don’t have the ability to understand your insane logic

993

> 2533274945437948;993:
> > 2533274938678576;991:
> > > 2535429756019039;839:
> > > > 2533274938678576;835:
> > > > I’m so glad that my "it’s not going to happen’ stance was correct.
> > > > I’m also SOOOOO much happier that it’s going to refuse to cater to you people and ruin the 60fps, just because you want to play with a friend the cheap way.
> > > >
> > > > <3 343.
> > >
> > >
> > > And here we go with the, “you guys are cheap because you guys won’t drop another $400 for another Xbox and $60 for another game so that you can play with the same person who is in the same room as you”.
> >
> >
> > It’s more… You’re too cheap to have an xbox one to play XBOX ONE games, and then spend 60$ on a game that you want to play. Instead, you wish to be able to play together with someone, without actually paying for it. That’s you being cheap. I’m GLAD that it’s gone. I’m soooooo happy, because of threads like this. With how a majority of you claimed you wouldn’t play unless it was there.
> > Well… I bet I still see you online. I bet you can’t follow through with your threats. Bahahaha. :smiley: Thank you based 343.
>
>
> It’s cheap from me to want to play with my brother on our console,which we bought together? I’m terrible sorry,but I guess I just don’t have the ability to understand your insane logic

Same here

994

> 2535436511594683;994:
> > 2533274945437948;993:
> > > 2533274938678576;991:
> > > > 2535429756019039;839:
> > > > > 2533274938678576;835:
> > > > > I’m so glad that my "it’s not going to happen’ stance was correct.
> > > > > I’m also SOOOOO much happier that it’s going to refuse to cater to you people and ruin the 60fps, just because you want to play with a friend the cheap way.
> > > > >
> > > > > <3 343.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > And here we go with the, “you guys are cheap because you guys won’t drop another $400 for another Xbox and $60 for another game so that you can play with the same person who is in the same room as you”.
> > >
> > >
> > > It’s more… You’re too cheap to have an xbox one to play XBOX ONE games, and then spend 60$ on a game that you want to play. Instead, you wish to be able to play together with someone, without actually paying for it. That’s you being cheap. I’m GLAD that it’s gone. I’m soooooo happy, because of threads like this. With how a majority of you claimed you wouldn’t play unless it was there.
> > > Well… I bet I still see you online. I bet you can’t follow through with your threats. Bahahaha. :smiley: Thank you based 343.
> >
> >
> > It’s cheap from me to want to play with my brother on our console,which we bought together? I’m terrible sorry,but I guess I just don’t have the ability to understand your insane logic
>
>
> Same here

It’s not worth them giving up on the FPS, to make the people who are not going to be paying them any money to play the -Yoink!- game, when the people who ARE paying for it would rather have the FPS. I am buying the game, I’d rather have my FPS be 60, then to allow you to play multiplayer and them have to change the way the aesthetics are, because you are too poor to play the game as it was intended. Go mow some lawns or something, make the money and spend it on the game. OR get a job. DO SOMETHING besides complain that you didn’t get what you wanted.
Again, thank you 343 for being awesomeeeeee.

995

I’m utterly devastated by this turn of events, so please excuse the following outpouring. I’d not realised this was actually a legitimate development (or rather non-development) in the run up to Halo 5s release!! I’ve played Halo since CE on the Xbox with my brother, side by side. My friends without Xbox’s or the financial means to purchase them also played with us and I clocked up so many runs on CE co-op that it is more than I can count. Everyone in my social, bar none, enjoyed the communal experience of split-screen co-op and when that was done we would naturally all pile into multiplayer. 4 player split-screen was a total thrill and my best mate, his younger sisters and I, along with many others would play through the day and long into the night to experience such unbridled social joy that we had not had on a console since Quake III on the Dreamcast. To see this legacy feature taken out to pasture and shot like a lame horse puts nails into the coffin of my youth.

Fast forward to Halo 2. We were lucky enough in our house to be early adopters of broadband and so I was able to experience the birth of Xbox Live in its early days. Sure, the experience of playing against people from all over the world was phenomenal. Nothing can take that away from the Halo 2 experience, but it was local multi-player, and local co-op that cemented the game experience for us all. Once again, side by side with my brother and our mates we went through the campaign together and followed the tale of the Chief and the Arbiter and everything was as it should be. Heck, I was hospitalised for a considerable time in 2005 and brought my Xbox into hospital with me. It may sound far-fetched but I am sure the experience of playing co-op \ multi with people near me - friends, family, fellow hospitalee’s - as opposed to in isolation aided my recovery and I am sure others will have similar heartwarming moments to recount. Taking away local co-op and limiting multi is an insult to the importance that local play can have on so many levels. Its not just about being able to play WITH SOMEONE but being able to PLAY TOGETHER!!

Many people here have spoken passionately about Halo Night. This is still a thing for many people. Before COD, before dude-bros and screaming 13 year olds and the like that people vociferously castigate when complaining about the state of online communities these days there was Halo Night. Pure. unadulterated, multiplayer, split screen, madness. Again, the experience of 4, or later 8, then 12 and EVEN SIXTEEN people on 4 consoles with 4 controllers apiece was something you simply did not get with any other game. We didn’t all have the luxury of broadband, and even those that did couldn’t guarantee that we could all meet up online at the same time. But you MADE TIME for Halo Night, for the experience of being in the same room (or, the entire floor space of my mates flat with more tangled ethernet, power and controller cables than logistics or indeed common fire-safety principles would have thought possible) and sharing food and drink and camaraderie. This sort of thing categorically cannot be found online as the experience is sterilised. Can I congratulate my mate on a great head-shot kill out of nowhere with a physical high five or clap on the shoulder when he’s in one place and I another? NO. Can I punch him for spending the remainder of the same match camped in the same one spot I just can’t quite reach and sniping me in similar fashion repeatedly? NO.

Halo 3, ODST, Reach and even Halo 4 expanded on these brilliant times with beautiful and memorable experiences that I won’t lengthen this post yet further recounting. Co-op through all of these campaigns was ALWAYS the first thing we did. Heck, I didn’t even play Halo 3 solo for about 2 years after I bought it because the co-op and multi was so strong in my opinion!! Firefight was a tremendous feature - and we admittedly got more play time out of it on Reach than on ODST- but specifically when played locally with people you could immediately communicate with and strategise with. Fair enough, with broadband infrastructure becoming more widespread and affordable during these times I found that more and more of our time was spent playing on Live but it was nigh-on always split screen multi with brothers, friends, family and the like. We got so used to the size of 2,3,4 screen splits that on the rare occasion we logged in solo it threw off our game!!

Halo has always been a communal experience. Far more so than many of the other shooter franchises out there. Its legacy is in 2 people taking on the Covenant together. God knows, it made going through levels such as The Library bearable!! Its legacy is in those four people huddled round a CRT screen clutching their controllers and playing round after round of multiplayer. Sure, Xbox Live laid the foundations for what online console multiplayer, whether on Halo or otherwise, has become but in its roots surely lies the necessity for REAL FRIENDS not just ‘‘People I play online with and profess to like’’. Not that I’m saying people don’t have real friends online and or don’t play with them but I am talking about a tangibly real physical, emotional connection. Halo is about many things, but one of those that is most important to me is that Halo is about bonding. The more bonding elements that are removed from Halo the more shallow the experience will become until Halo is reduced to a generic shooter that has nothing to set it apart from the other shelf-fillers.

Prior to writing this post my brother and I have been going right back to the beginning of the saga and endeavouring to complete the Master Chief Collection in its entirety in preparation for the launch of Halo 5, secure in the knowledge that once we have managed it we will once again be able to pick up our weapons of choice and battle through whatever may face us in Guardians. Now it appears this may not happen and I am left feeling strangely empty, saddened, bereft. Thinking of not being able to play Halo as we have always played Halo is a very alien feeling.

I appreciate many peoples opinions in not regretting the loss of split-screen co-op or multi. I understand the logistical implications for developing Halo 5 without such features. However all those reasons seem, to me, to fly in the face of the core foundations that Halo was built on. Sure, more people play online these days but what of those that don’t or can’t? What of people who can’t afford a new console, a new TV, a new copy of Halo or don’t even have the space (certainly given that at least in the UK the average house ‘‘footprint’’ is significantly less than that in the US) to facilitate such extravagant expenditure? It seems counter-intuitive from a financial standpoint to not be trying to make a game that is viable for as many people as possible. Sure, many people here have and will undoubtedly continue to say ‘‘Yeah, it doesn’t affect me so meh’’. That attitude flies only so far however. What happens if Halo 5 tanks? What if we don’t get Halo 6 or it is further castrated? At what point will it begin to affect you?

(1 of 2)

996

(2 of 2)

If Halo 5 launches without local co-op and a reduced functionality local multi-player it will have lost something that it has always had. Something that made Halo quintessentially different from others. What if they decided to switch up the two-gun only philosophy that has been another key style point for the game since CE? Now, a decision of that magnitude doesn’t sound so trivial now does it? I would argue that the co-op / multi thing sits alongside it in terms of things that Halo means to me.

I will do anything possible to combat this decision or at least try to see such a vital feature reinstated, if not for launch, in some capacity during the life-cycle of Halo 5 Guardians. If we can only enter into some kind of dialogue with 343i then even if we don’t achieve our goal we will at least know why, and they will know that they have created another schism in a 14 year old fan-base. We will know they have prized graphical fidelity over gameplay and we will know in our hearts whether we want to support such a decision.

Those of you that have read this far are probably some of those that have felt as I have felt, have experienced as I have. I am sorry for such a vast verbose essay but it is entirely heartfelt and I hope thoughtful, considered and well written. I trust that any rebuttal to these words will have as much care put into them.

Tl;dr: Save Halo Night. Save Split-Screen Multi. Save Co-Op Campaign.

END

997

<mark>Do not flame/attack others.</mark>

> 2533274938678576;995:
> > 2535436511594683;994:
> > > 2533274945437948;993:
> > > > 2533274938678576;991:
> > > > > 2535429756019039;839:
> > > > > > 2533274938678576;835:
> > > > > > I’m so glad that my "it’s not going to happen’ stance was correct.
> > > > > > I’m also SOOOOO much happier that it’s going to refuse to cater to you people and ruin the 60fps, just because you want to play with a friend the cheap way.
> > > > > > <3 343.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > And here we go with the, “you guys are cheap because you guys won’t drop another $400 for another Xbox and $60 for another game so that you can play with the same person who is in the same room as you”.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > It’s more… You’re too cheap to have an xbox one to play XBOX ONE games, and then spend 60$ on a game that you want to play. Instead, you wish to be able to play together with someone, without actually paying for it. That’s you being cheap. I’m GLAD that it’s gone. I’m soooooo happy, because of threads like this. With how a majority of you claimed you wouldn’t play unless it was there.
> > > > Well… I bet I still see you online. I bet you can’t follow through with your threats. Bahahaha. :smiley: Thank you based 343.
> > >
> > >
> > > It’s cheap from me to want to play with my brother on our console,which we bought together? I’m terrible sorry,but I guess I just don’t have the ability to understand your insane logic
> >
> >
> > Same here
>
>
> It’s not worth them giving up on the FPS, to make the people who are not going to be paying them any money to play the -Yoink!- game, when the people who ARE paying for it would rather have the FPS. I am buying the game, I’d rather have my FPS be 60, then to allow you to play multiplayer and them have to change the way the aesthetics are, because you are too poor to play the game as it was intended. Go mow some lawns or something, make the money and spend it on the game. OR get a job. DO SOMETHING besides complain that you didn’t get what you wanted.
> Again, thank you 343 for being awesomeeeeee.

you don’t have neither brain nor friends, and both things are sooooo sad
if smbd wants to play split screen with his friend, it doesn’t mean that only one of them has a console, have you ever thought about it? oh, you don’t have brain, how could you think w/o brain, sorry man

998

> 2533274938678576;995:
> It’s not worth them giving up on the FPS, to make the people who are not going to be paying them any money to play the -Yoink!- game, when the people who ARE paying for it would rather have the FPS. I am buying the game, I’d rather have my FPS be 60, then to allow you to play multiplayer and them have to change the way the aesthetics are, because you are too poor to play the game as it was intended. Go mow some lawns or something, make the money and spend it on the game. OR get a job. DO SOMETHING besides complain that you didn’t get what you wanted.
> Again, thank you 343 for being awesomeeeeee.

Do you know that Splitscreen and 60 FPS aren’t mutually exclusive?

Hell, Halo has done it before. Several times. So has Call of Duty, actually. The worst thing I noticed in any of them was a reduced draw distance in Reach, where you couldn’t see all the way across Hemorrhage. Split screen doesn’t affect the aesthetics in the slightest, or the FPS if they actually put some effort into it, and considering the millions they’re throwing down, it should be kinda trivial honestly.

I mean, I know you’re just trolling, but this is just poorly done. Both as a argument, and as trying to be infuriatingly against a cause that doesn’t effect you.

999

halo must have splitscreen its not a want its a need !! i don’t have good internet and split screen is the best way to play multiplayer without having a irritable time trying to play with lag. so viva la split screen !!!

1000

Without split screen co-op, this is not a true Halo experience.

Inviting friends over and playing the latest and greatest Halo game together is the essence of the game. It is a tradition. However, with the news that there will be no split screen co-op I am disheartened, disappointed, and let down by 343 and their decisions.

Thank you you for informing me that I do not matter and that you do not wish me to preorder or purchase the game. Without split screen co-op, I have no reason to buy.

1001

I’ve not played splitscreen for several releases and I’ve never felt I’ve got anything less than a true Halo experience.

The only argument that holds any weight for me in this is, if it’s just going to affect the game whilst it’s playing in split screen mode, then those who want to play splitscreen can take the hit in performance (even though they will undoubtedly complain anyway) But Franks comment seems to suggest the situation is not that simple.