‘Tough decisions’ don’t seem to be that hard either.
With just one machine, one screen, and enough controllers, you can achieve local multiplayer battles, or cooperative battles. This split-screen mode of playing with close friends or family has been one of the selling points of the Halo franchise since the original Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001.
Developed by 343 Studios and released in 2015, “Halo 5” was criticized for not having a split-screen cooperative campaign. So, at the 2017 DICE annual summit, Bonnie Ross, head of 343, solemnly promised that from now on, all first-person shooters in the “Halo” series “will always support split-screen mode.”
At the 2019 E3 conference, the 343 community director reiterated this commitment, making it clear that the new work “Halo: Infinite” will support split-screen mode.
Source: Xbox official website
However, by 2022, 343 has broken its promise. They only made a split-screen battle feature for Halo: Infinite, and the split-screen co-op campaign that players have been waiting for was delayed several times and then completely cancelled.
On September 1, Halo: Infinite updated a 30-minute interview and demo video. In the interview, 343’s creative director Joseph Stanton quietly announced:
“We had to make the difficult decision to no longer offer Halo Infinite’s split-screen campaign mode, and to move the resources that were supposed to be used above to other things on the update list.”
“Tough decisions”
343 also announced that the online co-op campaign that should have been implemented in the “Second Season”, “Later Season 2” or “late August” will be delayed until the small “Winter Update” on November 8. The big update for the third season of the multiplayer mode has been delayed until March 2023, which means that the second season, which started in May this year, will last for a full 10 months.
The low update efficiency of “Halo: Infinite” has been criticized by players. When the news of the cancellation of the split-screen cooperative campaign came out, even loyal fans would be disappointed by 343’s disbelief. On the Steam platform, the recent positive rate of “Halo: Infinite” has dropped to a “mostly bad” rating of 35%.
Now that the split-screen co-op campaign can no longer be counted on by officials, players have decided to find their own way.
In fact, the surviving code for the split-screen campaign mode is still part of the Halo: Infinite game files. Back in June of this year, player Zeny IC discovered a main menu glitch in the game that allowed players to enable free-camera in campaign mode, possibly allowing players to enter a split-screen co-op campaign, but Zeny was unable to provide further verification.
Free view of the campaign map
On September 2, the day after the “difficult decision”, French player Halo Creation (hereafter referred to as HC) tested the method provided by Zeny on an Xbox Series X console, successfully entered the split-screen cooperative battle, and passed the prologue. , entered an open world level without encountering any bugs or crash reports related to cutscenes or enemy AI.
“I never thought I would have to go through these steps to play with my friends at home”
The prerequisites for entering a split-screen campaign include an Xbox console, an online Xbox friend, a controller necessary for split-screen mode, and an additional Xbox account. “Halo” on the PC side does not allow players to log in to two Xbox accounts at the same time, unfortunately there is no split screen function.
After a whole day of tinkering, HC launched an integrated video tutorial, the specific process is as follows:
First, open the campaign menu, load the save, and wait until the “Loading map” prompt appears at the bottom of the screen. At this time, immediately enter the friend list, select the friend who is hanging up in the main menu, and click “Join”.
After the system successfully forms and enters the squad, exit the squad. After waiting for the interface to customize the room to appear on the screen, adjust the server option to offline.
Finally, connect the second controller, log in to the corresponding account, and enter the game. Although the default setting of the room options is multiplayer, the game loads the save of the campaign normally, and enters the split-screen co-op mode that 343 “does not provide”.
The Pause menu also shows the Versus mode settings. Image via Twitter @KatsuyaTheFuuk
In the days after HC uploaded the video tutorial, multiple console players in the community verified it using different devices. After testing, the S and X models of the next-generation console Xbox Series can use this vulnerability to enter split-screen battles.
Double screen for Xbox Series S, Reddit: u/evgxmagma
The X-type, which has better performance, can run a two-player game on a 4K resolution screen at 60 frames (the frame rate drops sharply only when the game map is opened), and even supports a relatively smooth four-player screen.
Four on Xbox Series X, Reddit: u/BigMike-64
One player on Twitter tested the two-player split-screen game on his old Xbox One and persuaded his brother who “swore never to play Halo again” to join. The functions of the Xbox One are relatively limited. After entering the open world level, the textures of some objects become blurred, but it does not affect their normal gameplay.
The test also found some caveats. If a player quits the game, all players will quit at the same time, and you can only go through the process again according to HC’s video. There is a high probability that the loophole will cause the archive to be damaged. Before going through the process again, the player must enter the corresponding mission in single-player mode, create an archive, and continue the split-screen game on the basis of this archive.
Without these problems, the split-screen cooperation mode abandoned by 343 has an unexpected degree of completion. Before, players have unpacked new multiplayer maps and new modes that have not been implemented in the game for a long time. The split-screen battle is different from these contents. It is not a “big move” for the game’s ten-year operation plan. , but something that was officially abandoned and should no longer exist in the game.
The “Halo” community needs a reasonable explanation from 343, but they are more worried that 343 will not explain it. Instead, in an update a few days later, in the name of fixing bugs, it will easily take away the fun they have been looking forward to for many years.
“Just watch them fix this bug.”
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