Sorry, screen-peekers everywhere, Halo 5 is going solo [screen, that is].
[dropcap size=small]H[/dropcap]alo says ‘Goodbye’ to split screen, and embraces the solo screen experience. But after multiple games in the series, why would Microsoft’s Xbox break with traditional multiplayer gaming interfaces? An interview with Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s top gaming boss, explains the changes.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Another reason for dropping split-screen was so that the ‘massive-scale environments’, better visuals, and improved AI wouldn’t be ‘compromised’. Halo 5 executive producer Josh Holmes stated that the decision was not an easy one, but that’s the direction that they wanted to take the game.
As a former Halo LAN party player, I will surely miss getting together with multiple TV’s, consoles, and loud noises as we chanted ‘NO SCREEN-PEEKING!’ (shout out to my high school gang). But Xbox assures its faithful players that multiplayer is still an option, but it will only be offered through Xbox live.
Halo 5: Guardians will be released exclusively to Xbox One on October 27.
