Split screen multiplayer done for?

[Kane99]

You would think with the big screen tvs we have today, that split screen gaming would be even more popular than it is today. It's sad to say, but I think split screen is being forgotten. We may still see it in some games, but it's starting to look like it's going away. Especially since Halo Infinite decided to backtrack on split screen, even though fans found a workaround that worked. But I feel like more games will skip out of split screen. 

Do you see a future where split screen is no longer an option? I can't see it being hard to implement in most games, so I don't know why it's being removed. 

[Smokey]

I'd say so. I don't see many games still doing this. We might get it in the 007 Goldeneye Remake, but outside of that and maybe possibly the Perfect Dark remake, I think split-screen couch-co-op is all but done for tbh. 

It just doesn't make sense to put resources into something only about 5% of the community would utilize.

[Kyng]

Yeah, to be honest, the concept feels pretty outdated these days. I guess it made more sense in the days of "one computer per household", but now that each person has multiple devices on which games can be played, it feels like it's lost much of its purpose.

[Empire]

It's a strain on the system is probably the main reason. ANd also people just hate it, I do 😉 It's not the best and it can be a poop hole. Sure I used to love playing goldeneye with all my friends on a 4-split. But nowadays I just can't get back into split screen. It sucks having a small screen and screen-looking completely ruins any competitive aspect of the game. LAN or WAN multiplayer is really the only way I'd want to play anymore.

[Shagger]

2 hours ago, Empire said:

It's a strain on the system is probably the main reason. ANd also people just hate it, I do 😉 It's not the best and it can be a poop hole. Sure I used to love playing goldeneye with all my friends on a 4-split. But nowadays I just can't get back into split screen. It sucks having a small screen and screen-looking completely ruins any competitive aspect of the game. LAN or WAN multiplayer is really the only way I'd want to play anymore.

 

Couldn't agree less. Split screen and local multiplayer have been getting phased out on consoles in the last 3 generations for same reason everything changes in the industry. Money. It has nothing to do with technical issues or any alleged inferiority with the concept, with all due respect that is your opinion and nothing more.

 

This goes back to what I've said about Burnout Paradise in the past. As soon as the PS3 came out, they launched the game with local multiplayer removed completely from the game. Think about it, why would a company sell a game whare four people can crowd around just one console and play one  copy of a game when you can force to buy four consoles four copies of a game (and later even have to pay a subscription) just to play together. It's bullshit.

 

Multiplayer used to be about friendly competition and having fun, but the move to online has turned it toxic. I'm not saying one can't have fun playing multiplayer on a network, LAN parties especially can bring a lot of the atmosphere from traditional multiplayer back, but it still means playing multiple copies on the game on multiple systems, so it the same "Burnout Paradise" bullshit I was talking about earlier.

[killamch89]

As much as I'd like split-screen Co-op to make a comeback, let's put it this way, not many modern gamers even make use of the feature anymore. They prefer to play online and so game developers don't think that it's an essential feature to have anymore.

[Shortie]

I know Fortnite tried the whole split screen thing for their online multiplayer and as much as it was a godo idea, it was awful to use for something like an online game. I do think that because of how big online gaming is now and because of how accessible the internet is now as well, split screen is definitely something that we will now see less and less of until it just phases out. 

[aerodynamik]

I haven't played splitscreen in over 15 years. So yeah, it's definitely dying out.

[killamch89]

25 minutes ago, aerodynamik said:

I haven't played splitscreen in over 15 years. So yeah, it's definitely dying out.

I'd have to agree that split-screen feature is dying because a lot of modern gamers don't really utilize the feature at all. So companies aren't going to see it as a priority.

[Kane99]

On 1/7/2023 at 6:56 AM, Empire said:

It's a strain on the system is probably the main reason. ANd also people just hate it, I do 😉 It's not the best and it can be a poop hole. Sure I used to love playing goldeneye with all my friends on a 4-split. But nowadays I just can't get back into split screen. It sucks having a small screen and screen-looking completely ruins any competitive aspect of the game. LAN or WAN multiplayer is really the only way I'd want to play anymore.

Nah I doubt that. It's more to do with them just being lazy and not wanting to bother with it. Couch co-op is still a thing people like to do, maybe not as much as we used to, but it's still something people enjoy. It can't hurt to include a split screen mode in most games. It's just studios being lazy and not wanting to implement it. 

[Empire]

I remember reading an interview with a developer (possibly Naughty Dog) where they said its incredibly hard to do split screen because essentially you have to program the game for two really weird sized resolutions since most games are now built for widescreen HD TVs. Before, they were able to split a screen for a fairly square SD TV and it was easier.

[killamch89]

On 1/24/2023 at 2:12 PM, Kane99 said:

Nah I doubt that. It's more to do with them just being lazy and not wanting to bother with it. Couch co-op is still a thing people like to do, maybe not as much as we used to, but it's still something people enjoy. It can't hurt to include a split screen mode in most games. It's just studios being lazy and not wanting to implement it. 

It's not about not wanting to bother with it, it has more to do with the fact that most modern games don't really utilize the feature compared to others of a bygone era so gaming companies won't prioritize it as much.

[Kane99]

On 1/26/2023 at 6:34 AM, Empire said:

I remember reading an interview with a developer (possibly Naughty Dog) where they said its incredibly hard to do split screen because essentially you have to program the game for two really weird sized resolutions since most games are now built for widescreen HD TVs. Before, they were able to split a screen for a fairly square SD TV and it was easier.

I call BS on that considering split screen has been a thing since forever now. I think it's more to do with studios just not wanting to bother with it anymore. Like Killamch89 said below, it's the fact that most people don't utilize the feature anymore and that's most likely why studios don't support the feature as much anymore. 

1 hour ago, killamch89 said:

It's not about not wanting to bother with it, it has more to do with the fact that most modern games don't really utilize the feature compared to others of a bygone era so gaming companies won't prioritize it as much.

True, it's not a feature that is used all that often anymore, but there are people who still like split screen gaming. I'm sure developers can figure out a solution to keep it in some games. 

[Karico]

split screen minecraft and tiny tina's wonder land its 

 

[killamch89]

On 1/27/2023 at 2:02 PM, Kane99 said:

True, it's not a feature that is used all that often anymore, but there are people who still like split screen gaming. I'm sure developers can figure out a solution to keep it in some games. 

I agree but with game developers nowadays, they love taking away features so I wouldn't get my hopes up about split-screen multiplayer making a comeback.