10 Popular Video Game Mechanics The Industry ABANDONED

Unless you're really young, you likely have fond memories of playing split-screen multiplayer games with friends on the regular, because once upon a time split-screen was the way to do multiplayer.

Before online play existed, local split-screen was of course how pals would play together, but even as online multiplayer took off, most games still included a local equivalent.

Yet in recent years this has become increasingly rare, to the extent that even many major AAA games no longer ship with split-screen multiplayer at all, making it impossible to play couch co-op with friends or family.

This is clearly a by-product of online multiplayer's popularity and how, if we're honest, couch co-op has steadily declined over the last decade-plus, such that developers don't consider it worth their while to implement.

Plus, from a technical perspective it can cause a host of performance issues, what with the game effectively having to render the same environment two, three, or four times.

And above all else, shifting the focus from local to online play heavily incentivises every member of a friend group to buy their own copy of the game, rather than crowding around a single TV with a single copy.

And so, outside of the Nintendo Switch - which certainly prioritises local multiplayer experiences - split-screen multiplayer is basically in its death throes, enough that younger generations likely don't even lament its demise.