Halo: Return of The Split Screen Gaming

Nothing was so annoying, to me personally, as the day that Halo stopped running split screen games. I could no longer – with a friend – blast grunts, ghost vehicles, or dance around plasma sword strikes. It was like a piece of my childhood had been ripped away with little to no warning. I say this because much of the excitement of Halo stemmed purely from the ability to have a gritty couch coop game with my friend that we could laugh, be frustrated about, and in general enjoy.

So it is with joy that I’ve heard the news from up on high. The head of 343 Industries, Bonnie Ross, has stated recently at the DICE summit in Las Vegas that the Halo franchise will “always have split screen going forward”. You hear that guys? Always. She stated that the removal of the function was a painful lesson for the company, due to the outcry of many fan’s were disappointed at it’s loss.

I wonder why?

The decision to remove split screen was a horrible one made by the company, and affected the trust many gamers had in the company. Even Ross admitted that “we fell down with the multiplayer launch of [Halo: The Master Chief Collection], or when we didn’t put split screen in with Halo 5. I think it’s incredibly painful for the community and for us. It erodes trust with the community, as the community is part of our world building. [We’ve had a] lot of learnings from that, and I would say for any FPS going out forward we will always have split screen going forward…” That said, we can only hope that the company keeps sticking with what works as oppose to making rash decisions that affect our gameplay fun.

For me, this means that the next Halo game will be something I pick up again. As the last one I didn’t buy, due to my inability to play side by side with my friends – as I have since I was a child.

Let us know in the comment’s what you think of the return of Split screen, and whether it will ensure you buying the next Halo game.

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