343 Industries’ Halo 5: Guardians has drummed up more than its fair share of controversy by not having a split-screen option for two players to experience co-op on the same display. Though the developer has offered its own reasons for the same, many of them were echoed by Xbox division boss Phil Spencer in an interview with GameSpot.
“In the end, the teams make decisions based on the bar that they want to hit for complexity of what they’re going to run on a single box. We see the robustness of what Xbox Live is today and where people are playing across Xbox Live–you at your house, me at our house. We know that’s the vast majority of the co-op play. With Halo 5, the team really wanted to focus on making that experience great, both visually on the screen that you’re looking at, and all the systems in place.”
As such according to Spencer, it isn’t nearly as easy to get people in the same physical space as before. “I think the team made a trade-off based on what they see happening in the market today and what they wanted to do with their game. I love the nostalgia of the couch co-op of what Halo did in the past, but I also know in the realities of the day with people’s busy lives, it’s not as easy to get everybody in the same physical place. It’s one of the advantages that Xbox Live obviously offers.”
Halo 5: Guardians is out on October 27th for Xbox One. What are your thoughts on the lack of split-screen co-op? Let us know in the comments.