Halo: Campaign Evolved is making its first-ever appearance on a PlayStation console next month, and Halo Studios just gave PS5 owners a reason to be a lot less excited about it. In a June Community Q&A published on Halo Waypoint yesterday, Halo Studios confirmed that playing local, offline split-screen co-op on PS5 will require both players to have an active PlayStation Plus subscription. Not one. Both. For a couch co-op session where nobody's even going online.
What the Q&A Actually Says
The PlayStation Plus detail wasn't the only thing covered in Halo Studios' June Q&A, which also touched on Skulls, the Collector's Edition sellout, co-op difficulty scaling, and confirmation that there are no plans for a public demo before launch. But the account requirements section is the one that's dominated the conversation since publication, and for good reason.
Halo Studios confirmed that, regardless of platform, every player needs a Microsoft account and Xbox Gamertag, the same setup that's already required for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite, used to keep cross-platform play and progression in sync.
From there, the requirements split by platform. On Xbox Series X|S, split-screen needs a unique Microsoft account for the second player, but no Xbox Game Pass subscription, online co-op is the only mode that requires Game Pass. On Steam, players just need to link a Microsoft account. On PS5, the wording is more direct: both accounts will need to have PlayStation Plus and be linked to a Microsoft account, and that PlayStation Plus subscription is also what unlocks access to online co-op for those players. In other words, the same subscription requirement covers both local and online play on PS5, while on Xbox, the two are kept separate.
Why This Is Different From the Usual Account Linking Complaints
Microsoft requiring a Microsoft account to play a Microsoft-published game isn't new, and it isn't really the part driving the backlash. Account linking between platforms has become standard practice for cross-play titles for years now, including past Halo games. What's catching people off guard here is the PlayStation Plus part specifically, because split-screen on the same console, on the same TV, with no internet connection required, has never typically needed an online subscription on PS5 before. Diablo 4 is one example commentators have pointed to, where local split-screen on PS5 only requires one of the two players to have PlayStation Plus active, not both.
That's the detail PlayStation players are stuck on. This isn't a "you need PS Plus to play online" situation, which would be unremarkable. It's "you need two separate paid subscriptions to sit on the same couch and play through a campaign that has no internet connection requirement otherwise." For a feature built around accessibility and shared, low-barrier play, gating it behind a second subscription reads as a strange decision regardless of which side of the console divide you're on.
How PlayStation Fans Are Reacting
The response across social media since the Q&A went up has been blunt. One widely shared post argued that requiring two active PS Plus subscriptions for local couch co-op runs against the entire point of split-screen, framing it as something that's always been about accessibility and shared experiences without extra cost layered on top. Other reactions have leaned more directly at PlayStation, asking the platform outright what the reasoning is behind the restriction.
Some of the sharper responses have gone after the logic of the requirement itself, questioning why an entirely offline experience would need even one online subscription, let alone two, and a few commenters have said the requirement is pushing them to just stick with Xbox for the game instead. It's worth noting the frustration isn't uniformly aimed at Sony. Plenty of threads on forums like ResetEra point out that this is being driven by how Microsoft structured the account requirements just as much as how PlayStation Plus works, since the same offline session is being routed through online account verification on the PS5 side in a way it isn't on Xbox.
No Official Response Yet
As of now, neither Halo Studios, Microsoft, nor Sony has issued any follow-up statement addressing the criticism. The original Q&A entry hasn't been edited or walked back, and there's no indication yet of whether this is final or whether it could still change before launch. Several outlets covering the story have said they'll update if a response comes in, and given how quickly this has spread across Halo and PlayStation communities in just the past few hours, it would be a little surprising if Halo Studios stayed quiet on it for long.
What's Next
Halo: Campaign Evolved is set to release on July 28 across Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC, marking the franchise's first time on a PlayStation platform after roughly 25 years of Xbox exclusivity. Anyone who pre-orders the Premium Edition gets up to five days of early access starting July 23. Halo Studios has recommended that anyone planning to jump in immediately on launch day have their Xbox account set up ahead of time to avoid losing time to account creation once the game is installed, advice that now comes with an added asterisk for PS5 players figuring out whether a second PlayStation Plus subscription is worth it just for couch co-op.
Whether this requirement holds as written through launch, or whether enough pushback gets it reconsidered, is the open question heading into the next few weeks. We'll update this story if Halo Studios, Microsoft, or Sony issues any official word.
