Split Fiction, the new game from It Takes Two studio Hazelight, had a new trailer shown during the PlayStation State of Play last night, and director Josef Fares has some choice words to say about other companies choosing not to do co-op.
"Other publishers aren't doing this, and it's crazy to me," says Fares in an interview with GamesRadar. "So many people are playing these games, and people love them. I mean, I'm looking at Ubisoft, and they're struggling now, and I hope someone [from there] listens to this interview, but why aren't they taking Sam Fisher and doing a split-screen-only game?"
Sam Fisher is the protagonist of Splinter Cell, Ubisoft's stealth series that hasn't had a new entry in over a decade. Doing co-ordinated double takedowns and trying to sneak through levels with a friend would be a blast.
"Don't chicken out to do single-player; just say this is split-screen only," Fares says. "Boom, that's it. You have success, and I can guarantee you that they will sell a huge amount of copies of that. Yeah, they don't even have to do it the Hazelight way; why don't they listen to this [interview] and be like, 'Oh, he's right.' That's a guaranteed success for them; it's for you, Ubisoft. You can get it for free from me."
All of Fares' games have been co-op: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, A Way Out, It Takes Two, and now Split Fiction. Split-screen games felt much more common during the PS3 era. I remember playing Resistance: Fall of Man with my best friend at the time before tackling Army of Two and its sequel together. I'd love more co-op games like that.
I'm currently replaying It Takes Two with my girlfriend (after beating it with my best friend when it came out back in 2021) and I hope we finish it by the time Split Fiction comes out in March. I love sci-fi and she prefers fantasy, so it's a highly anticipated game for us.
While you wait for Split Fiction, check out some of the best co-op games you can play right now.
