The new Forza Motorsport game brings the long-running sim racing franchise to the Xbox Series X/S for the first time, but a lack of split-screen multiplayer support marks a break with series tradition. Although the companion Forza Horizon series has never featured split-screen renditions of its open-world environments, consoles have always been able to handle local multiplayer in Motorsport‘s more focused racetracks. The technological leap with the Xbox Series X/S might seem even more capable of taking on such a challenge, making the lack of the staple feature more surprising and disappointing.
Despite the lack of a number after its name, the new Forza Motorsport is the eighth installment of the Motorsport series. This refresh follows the longest hiatus the franchise has yet seen, with the six-year gap since Forza Motorsport 7 dwarfing the two-year schedule that was the standard prior to that point. With a planned focus on live-service content, it’s likely that Xbox Game Studios intends for Forza Motorsport to stick around for a while and receive regular updates. Consequently, it’s possible that features lacking at launch will arrive at some point in the future, although others may never end up being priorities for development.
Forza Motorsport’s Engine Overhaul Excluded Split-Screen
Ultimately, it seems like the graphical push for Forza Horizon on the newest console generation got in the way of including split-screen multiplayer at launch. As reported by IGN, creative director Chris Esaki explained that a game engine overhaul made the prospect of split-screen difficult. It’s possible that this situation was exacerbated by the parity requirements for the Xbox Series X and the less powerful Xbox Series S, as making the upgraded engine run well in split-screen on the Series S could have been a major roadblock, although it may be that the feature didn’t seem viable for launch on either console.
In an interview with Eurogamer, when asked about the exclusion of split-screen in the latest Forza Motorsport, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, said, “Forza Motorsport was never going to have splitscreen. That’s just a decision the team made based on usage.” According to Spencer, the move to exclude split-screen was more about allocating development resources into different core aspects of the game rather than wasting it on a game mode that very few actually played.
Forza Motorsport Could Get Split-Screen In The Future
It doesn’t sound like split-screen is officially dead for Forza Motorsport, however, as Chris Esaki only refers to the feature’s unavailability in the context of the game’s launch. This is far from a promise of anything to come in the future, but it does imply that it’s certainly not off the table for an update. Other classic features that didn’t make it in for launch are spectator mode and AI opponents in Featured Multiplayer, although Chris gives gameplay reasons for these exclusions as opposed to the technical explanation for the lack of split-screen.
Forza Horizon has a storied legacy to live up to, and the lack of the time-honored split-screen feature doesn’t necessarily do it any favors when lining up against past games. The graphical upgrade, however, does offer a new benchmark for the series, and delivering a realistic and immersive racing simulation has always been a franchise priority. Whether the trade-off was worth it will ultimately be a matter of individual preference, but as things stand, Forza Motorsport has arrived as a graphical powerhouse that doesn’t support the couch co-op experience.
