343 Industries has announced it will not feature a regular staple of the Halo diet, and that is or was splitscreen.

Executive Producer Josh Holmes said.

“The decision to remove split-screen support from Halo 5: Guardians was one of the most difficult ones we’ve ever had to make as a studio. We know that for many of our fans, Halo has meant playing together with friends in the same room. We all have great memories of past Halo split-screen multiplayer matches.”

“To move Halo’s gameplay forward and deliver a true next-gen experience, tough choices had to be made, Our decision was driven by a desire for scale, fidelity, and focus to ensure that we would deliver the best quality experience possible.”

Holmes also discussed AI, quote “massive scale enviroments”, and better visuals as reasons why splitscreen is a no go.

“Many of our ambitious goals for Halo 5 would be compromised in a split-screen setting and the time spent optimizing and addressing split-screen-specific issues would take focus from building other parts of the game,” he said. “Game development is a balancing act of resources, time, and technology, and in this case we made the tough decision to sacrifice something that’s been near and dear to us all.”

 Halo 5 Guardians is dropping October 27 exclusively for Xbox One.

The Gearbox & 3D Realms lawsuit has been settled. If you are wondering Gearbox retained the rights to the Duke Nukem franchise. Originally the problems arose when 3D Realms was bought by Interceptor who briefly teased Duke Nukem Mass Destruction then 3D Realms were sued by Gearbox.

Now it seems the companies have settled the differences in a joint statement.  Gearbox, 3D Realms and Interceptor have said they have “resolved their differences”, and all litigation between them had ended.

3D Realms boss Mike Nielsen said,

“We never intended to cause any harm to Gearbox or Duke, which is why we immediately ceased development after Gearbox reached out,”

Nielsen also talked about his excitement for more Duke Nukem.

“To secure the future of Duke, 3D Realms has agreed with Gearbox that a single home serves the IP best. And as big Duke fans, we’re excited to see what Gearbox has in store for the ‘King.’ As for our own games, we’re eager to complete development of the ‘Bombshell’ game and get it in the hands of our fans.”

Randy Pitchford talked about bringing more Duke Nukem to gamers in the future.

“I did not acquire the franchise merely so people could experience Duke Nukem Forever,” he explained when asked if another Duke Nukem title would be made. “That was, sort of, the toll to pay to give Duke Nukem a chance at a future.

“So yes. In fact, we’ve done some concept development. The challenge is that Gearbox is very busy. A faster way would be if the correct developer would become interested and we’d work with them.”