The arrival of the Halo series on PlayStation represents one of the biggest historical turns in the gaming industry, but not everything will be as simple as many had hoped.
Microsoft confirmed through the official Q&A on Halo Waypoint that all players who want to play Halo: Campaign Evolved on PlayStation 5 will need to have a Microsoft account and their own Xbox Gamertag, regardless of the platform they are playing on. According to Microsoft, the reason is to enable cross-play and progress synchronization between different platforms. In other words, the system works the same way as in the games Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite.
However, it was one other detail that sparked the most discussion.
If you want to play local split-screen co-op on PlayStation 5, both users will need to have:
an active PlayStation Plus subscription
their own Microsoft account
linked PlayStation and Microsoft profiles
The same PS Plus subscription will also be required for online cooperative play.
On Xbox Series consoles, the second local player must also have their own Microsoft account, while an active Game Pass subscription is required for online co-op. Steam users will also need to link their Microsoft account before playing. Microsoft has also recommended that players create their Xbox account in advance so they can jump right into the game on release day, July 28.
As expected, community reactions have been mixed.
While some players believe that linking a Microsoft account is quite logical due to cross-platform functionality, many have sharply criticized the fact that for regular local split-screen, it is necessary to have not one, but even two active PS Plus subscriptions!
Honestly, the mandatory Microsoft account is hard to call a controversy. Cross-play and cross-progression are standard today, so that part of the decision makes sense. What is far more difficult to justify is the requirement that two players, sitting on the same couch and playing on the same console, must have two active PS Plus subscriptions just to start local split-screen. Such a decision seems extremely unfriendly to consumers and unnecessarily complicates a way of playing that has been synonymous with simple socializing around a console for decades. It’s no wonder that this detail has sparked the greatest wave of criticism, overshadowing even the historic arrival of Halo on PlayStation.
