‘We can never get rid of that’
One of the earmarks of Xbox’s biggest shooters is the inclusion of local cooperative play. BothHaloandGears of Warhave had split-screen options tracing all the way back to their respective franchise’s origins. Developer 343 Industriesomitted split-screenfromHalo 5last year, and the decision was met with an overwhelmingly negative response.Gears of War 4won’t suffer that same fate.
In an interview with Game Informer (and as reported on byGameSpot),Gears of War 4head Rod Fergusson confirmed that the game will have local co-op via split-screen. What’s more, Fergusson explained that the feature will be available for every single game mode, from campaign to multiplayer. “We can never get rid of that,” he commented.
However, it comes with a minor concession. Instances of split-screen running mean that the game will be toned down to 30 frames per second. This won’t be an issue in the campaign, as that was always set for 1080p/30fps (likeGears of War Ultimate Edition); the multiplayer runs at 60fps, so that will effectively be halved to make it work via split-screen.
It won’t be long before we see the effects on multiplayer. Microsoft is holding a technical beta later this month to testGears of War 4‘s servers with a large player base, and split-screen will presumably be available for this. Those who don’t mind sacrificing frame rate will get a little help from their friends.
