Why no split-screen games for PC?

[andersonj21]

I would love a few good, 4 person (split-screen) racing games and even fps games to play when I have friends over. I know that will never be the primary genre of PC gaming, but I bet there would be a good market for it. I would have no problem buying four xbox/logitech controllers if there were good games to play with them.

Is there a reason we don't see new split-screen PC games? Has there been research done on why this wouldn't be profitable?

 

[dantoshi]

they want u to buy a console
so that they get more money
u will have their two versions of the same game
further most computers wouldn't be abble to process so much information i guess
play online with ur friends

 

[JDV28]

Yea, basically want you to buy consoles. and i guess because its much more uncommon for people to plug 4 controllers into their USB ports and sit around a computer monitor. Most peoples TVs are larger also.

 

[j_chatelain]

Don't know if you would be interested, but Left 4 Dead & L4D2 are quite a bit of fun using a two-player split-screen mod. It certainly helps if you have a 24"+ monitor though. Here's a link on how to do it:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=745113

 

[purplerat]

It's not some devious plan to get you to buy multiple copies, it's just not worth it for most developers to even bother. Split screen requires even further optimization of how the GPU is being used. That's easy for consoles where all brands have the same hardware. But for PCs it adds a whole other layer of development/testing/support that probably about 1% of PC gamers will actually use for a given game.

Most PC gamers are using screens 20" or smaller so split screen is going to be very tight (nevermind 4 players). Also most people do not setup their gaming PCs for multi-player inputs so even if a game does have split screen they have no way to actually use it. Multiplayer on the same machine is in general very limited on PC games so split screen doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

 

[JDV28]

split screen would be great for people with dual monitors though, if it would be possible to split between those two. and i agree, it's a smart move for them not to put in that much more extra work for something that very few gamers will utilize.

 

[purplerat]

It might be nice for dual monitors. But then wouldn't you want each user to be able to use their own keyboard and mouse (as opposed to one having to use a gamepad)? Then wouldn't it be better for each to have their own separate sound (to sync up with their individual video). At some point you might as well just have two separate PCs, which unlike 2 separate consoles won't require 2 separate copies of the game (in most cases). That's the setup I have. While it does cost a little more, if you're in that small minority that would want this it's probably worth just getting to PCs rather than worrying about split screen.

 

[andersonj21]

My PC is also hooked up to my 42" 1080p TV which is what I would use for split-screen. I'm thinking about the future here too, where more and more people will be hooking up PC's to there tv's.

 

[purplerat]

My PC is also hooked up to my 42" 1080p TV which is what I would use for split-screen. I'm thinking about the future here too, where more and more people will be hooking up PC's to there tv's.

I also have 1 of my PCs connected to a 46" TV and I've tried LD4 split screen. But I also have 3 gaming PCs and since I can play a single copy of LD4 on all three simultaneously split screen just doesn't make sense. As far as "the future", I don't think that PCs connected to TVs with split screen are really going the future. I think it's more likely that individual gaming devices will become more popular and linking them up for multiplayer will be the way to go. I would venture to guess that there are more people with multiple gaming PCs than those who have a gaming PC connected to a large screen TV and setup for multiplayer on one unit/split screen.

 

[JDV28]

It might be nice for dual monitors. But then wouldn't you want each user to be able to use their own keyboard and mouse (as opposed to one having to use a gamepad)? Then wouldn't it be better for each to have their own separate sound (to sync up with their individual video). At some point you might as well just have two separate PCs, which unlike 2 separate consoles won't require 2 separate copies of the game (in most cases). That's the setup I have. While it does cost a little more, if you're in that small minority that would want this it's probably worth just getting to PCs rather than worrying about split screen.

Exactly. It gets too complicated.