343 Industries executive producer Josh Holmes has corrected a previous statement that Halo 5: Guardians online co-op would be available to players with an Xbox Live Silver account.
“I misspoke during the interview when stating that online co-op campaign would be supported with an Xbox Live Silver account,” Holmes wrote in a blog post earlier today. “Co-op campaign will require Xbox Live Gold to play. I want to extend my sincere apologies to our fans, and to Game Informer, for this error and any confusion it has caused.”
Holmes went on to say that it is important to 343 Industries that fans have the opportunity to try the full co-op campaign, and will be providing a complimentary 14 day Xbox Live Gold trial with Halo 5: Guardians purchases. Any fans who wish to play online co-op long term will need to purchase an annual subscription at $59.99.
In addition, Halo 5 will not support split-screen co-op according to the Game Informer cover story. This marks the first time a main Halo game hasn’t supported split-screen co-op since the series began.
Softening these blows, however, is the knowledge that 15 complimentary DLC maps, which are expected by June 2016, will be made available in addition to the 20 multiplayer maps expected to accompany the title’s launch. “The people that have the map pack can play together but the people who don’t cannot. That to us is a real problem. So we’re delivering all the maps to all players free so everybody will be able to play together. That, we feel, is really important to having a great multiplayer ecosystem.”
Halo 5: Guardians is scheduled for release on October 27 for Xbox One.
[UPDATE June 11] Game Informer is a subscription magazine. To read the full Halo 5 article and interviews, you will need to purchase a copy, either in print or for digital download.
Published: Jun 11, 2015 12:59 am