"Halo 5" not getting a split-screen feature earned an uproar from fans, and it was audible enough to reach the game's developer, 343.
As such, the title's successor will now get the coveted split-screen mode.
"Splitscreen is fun for me too. It's not something that I object to, and we would've loved to put it in," the game's franchise director Frank O'Connor told Games Radar. "We'll talk about it for the next game, and we'll talk about it for the future."
He also revealed that the "blowback" to the absence of the split-screen mode in "Halo 5: Guardians" was enormous, prompting the developers to bring it back in the sequel. Unfortunately, they cannot patch it in "Halo 5."
"Realistically, for 'Halo 5, it's not something we can just throw in a patch," O'Connor affirmed. "It's just not feasible with the way the engine works."
Forbes' Paul Tassi put forward an explanation why the split-screen feature cannot be integrated with "Halo 5."
"The problem is that 'Halo 5' was created where 60 FPS (the framerate target which killed splitscreen) is actually tied into the physics engine of the game itself," he said. "You can't suddenly insert splitscreen into 'Halo 5' and cut the framerate without destabilizing pretty much everything about how the game works."
Currently, the company is doing "serious, real planning" for "Halo 6", with an eye to putting a split-screen mode in the title.
"We haven't said, 'Split-screen is done and we've abandoned it.' Making a game is about finding a schedule and a list of priorities and technical features that you can actually achieve," O'Connor was quoted by GameSpot as saying. "And the commitment to 60 frames per second, we knew was going to create some issues."
"Halo 5" executive producer, Josh Holmes, had said in the past that making the current game split-screenless was one of the most difficult decisions that the developers had to make. And now, it looks like it was a regrettable one, considering the backlash.
At the same time, it appears that the studio knows very well that if it was going to cave in to demands and tweak an otherwise properly functioning game, it might risk ruining "Halo 5" altogether.
With that being said, fans may begin wondering when "Halo 6" will be out. Considering "Halo 5" was just released October 27 this year, the next iteration may take a while to arrive.
Have something to add to this story? Let us know!
WATCH: