PS5 Players Need PS Plus To Play Halo: Campaign Evolved Split-Screen Co-Op Locally

Update 06/21/2026: On X (formerly Twitter) the official Halo account corrected the information found in the Q&A post. Their post reads: “We incorrectly stated that PlayStation Plus is required for local co-op splitscreen play. Local splitscreen co-op requires a PlayStation account for each player but does not require a PlayStation Plus account.”

In a nod to the old days, Halo Campaign Evolved will include split-screen co-op, letting two people play the campaign together on the same couch. It sounds great, but PS5 players have run into a surprising catch. According to an official Halo Studios Community Q&A, both players must have their own PlayStation Plus subscription and their own Microsoft account linked to PlayStation in order to play split-screen co-op on PS5.

The message reads, “If you’re playing split-screen on PlayStation 5, both accounts will need to have PlayStation Plus and be linked to a Microsoft account. Having these active PlayStation Plus subscriptions will also provide access to online co-op play.”

That means two people playing under the same roof will need two PlayStation accounts, two Microsoft accounts, and two PS Plus subscriptions just to play a story campaign together locally. Players have already started complaining about the rule. Many point out that PS5 game sharing normally lets a second user use the main account’s PS Plus benefits. On top of that, local co-op games usually don’t require any subscription, which makes this requirement even more surprising.

It’s also worth noting that this requirement only applies to PS5 players. On Xbox Series X|S, players still need separate Microsoft accounts for split-screen, but they don’t need a Game Pass subscription to play together on the same console. Game Pass is only required for online co-op.

At the time of writing, neither Sony nor Microsoft has clarified the reason for this requirement. While account linking is common for features such as cross-progression, the need for two paid subscriptions to play local couch co-op on a single console is difficult to justify. As more information becomes available, we’ll make sure to let you guys know here at GameObserver.