In a move that stunned fans, 343 Industries said that they would not be incorporating the highly popular split-screen co-op feature into Halo 5: Guardians. There will, however, be a new multiplayer option.
In a recent interview with Game Informer it was revealed that split-screen co-op, one of the most defining features of Halo gameplay, would be omitted from the newest title Halo 5: Guardians in order to maintain 60FPS. In addition, a later clarification by Studio Head Josh Holmes confirmed that Xbox Live Gold memberships would be needed to enjoy long-term online co-op play.
A new mystery was added, however. Game Informer reports: “Apart from Arena multiplayer, 343 teased another multiplayer mode that it’s keeping behind the curtain for now.”
“We also have a complementary new epic multiplayer experience which we’re really excited to show off at E3,” design director Kevin Franklin told Game Informer. “I can’t say too much about it, but I can tell you it does incorporate all aspects of the Halo sandbox for the very first time ever. This was always a dream of ours and all of our fans to build something like this. It’s been three years of long development and an incredible amount of play testing. We can’t wait to show it off.”
“We’re trying to provide as much variety and different ways to play for different play styles,” Holmes told Game Informer.
343 Head Bonnie Ross also vowed that no future Halo title will go without a beta test, a lesson learned from the tragic Halo: The Master Chief Collection release. “There is so much we learned with the Halo 5 beta. There is actually stuff we took from our Master Chief Collection – learnings that we were able to put into the beta. Going forward, you will never see a Halo game coming out without a beta. It was obviously painful for our fans and for us. But it won’t happen again. There are things we put in place to make sure that we know everything, how it stands up outside and in the wild.”
In addition to the 20 multiplayer maps expected to accompany the Halo 5: Guardians launch, 15 complimentary DLC maps, which are expected by June 2016, will be made available to all players.
Halo 5: Guardians releases October 27 for Xbox One.
