Future Halo shooters will bring back split-screen multiplayer, says 343 Industries head

Laurent Giret

As Halo games have always supported split-screen multiplayer in the past, it’s safe to say that the removal of the feature in Halo 5: Guardians disappointed many fans of the sci-fi shooter franchise. It seems that Halo developer 343 Industries has finally acknowledged it, promising that local multiplayer will be present in all future Halo shooters going forward (via Polygon).

Speaking at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas this week, 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross explained that the game studio learned a lot from the negative feedback that both Halo: The Masterchief Collection and Halo 5: Guardians received over the past couple of years:

We’ve also had a lot of learnings along the way. You know when 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.

The announcement will likely please those of you who prefer to play games on consoles because of the local multiplayer opportunities. We still don’t know when 343 Industries will ship the successor to Halo 5: Guardians, though we think that bringing back local multiplayer could really help the franchise become the system seller it once was.