Shortly after it was confirmed that Halo: Campaign Evolved on PlayStation 5 would require a Microsoft account, the gaming community clearly and loudly expressed its dissatisfaction with another piece of information that, fortunately, turned out to be incorrect.
Namely, the official announcement on Halo Waypoint initially suggested that for local split-screen co-op, both players would need to have a Microsoft account and an active PlayStation Plus subscription.
This triggered a wave of negative reactions among PlayStation players. The biggest issue was not the Microsoft account, which has been a standard for Halo games for years due to cross-play and cross-progression systems, but the idea that even playing on the same couch would require two active PS Plus subscriptions. For many players, local split-screen is a symbol of simple shared gaming without additional restrictions, so it’s no surprise that the news sparked heated reactions on social media and gaming forums. The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that the conditions on other platforms were not as strict.
On Xbox Series consoles, a second Microsoft account is sufficient for local split-screen, while the Game Pass subscription only applies to online play. On the PC version via Steam, it is only necessary to link a Microsoft account. Because of this, it seemed that PlayStation players were facing the most restrictions.
However, after the criticism began to spread across the internet, Halo Studios quickly responded and acknowledged that there was a communication error.
The studio clarified that PlayStation Plus will not be required for offline split-screen play on PlayStation 5. In other words, local co-op will be playable without an additional subscription, just as players expected. The Microsoft account, on the other hand, remains mandatory as it serves for logging into the Halo ecosystem and enables cross-platform progression and other online functionalities.
Although this correction alleviated some of the dissatisfaction, some players still express caution regarding the mandatory linking of a Microsoft account, believing that the additional steps when launching the game are not ideal.
Regardless of the brief controversy, the arrival of Halo on PlayStation remains one of the biggest events of this console generation. After more than two decades of exclusivity, one of the most famous Xbox franchises is finally reaching the PlayStation audience.
This situation once again demonstrated how sensitive players are when it comes to local multiplayer. Just one poorly written sentence is enough to trigger a wave of criticism, but it is also worth praising Halo Studios for acknowledging and correcting the mistake before the game's release.
