‘Halo Infinite’ beta has splitscreen multiplayer but it is tricky to work

According to head of creative at 343 Industries Joseph Staten, local splitscreen isn’t going to be available for the game until it launches on December 8, but one Reddit user has found a rather convoluted way to have splitscreen players face off against bots in the beta.

Outlined in this Reddit post by u/freebeans, the method currently only works for Xbox users, so PC beta players are out of luck, sadly. Here’s what you need to do to get it working according to the post:

1. On the Multiplayer/Academy Screen, press start (3 lines on Xbox controller) and select settings (press A)
2. Right bumper to the “Accessibility” tab (Right bumper 5 times)
3. Scroll down to the “Linear Navigation Mode” option and press A (check the box)
4. Exit out of the options menu (press B two times)
5. This is when it gets tricky so follow these steps EXACTLY
6. Press right on the D pad ONCE
7. Select Academy
8. Press right on the D pad ONCE
9. Select Training Mode
10. Press down on the D pad EXACTLY 5 times (until “Arena: Slayer” is highlighted
11. Press A
12. DON’T PRESS A again
13. Press Start (3 lines on xbox controller)
14. Press B EXACTLY 3 times (until you can see the “News” section on the main menu with the “Maps” option still attached to the left.
15. Press down on the D pad once and Up on the D pad once until “343 Industries” is highlighted.
16. Press A
17. Choose any map you’d like
18. If you made it this far, the hardest part is over 🙂 (the custom games menu should be open if not, you might want to start over)
19. Turn on your partner’s xbox controller
20. Sign in
21. Press A on the second controller and A again to sign in (on the “who are you?” Side screen)
22. You’re almost done but DON’T start the match yet!!
23. Press UP on the D pad until you have the Server option highlighted and press A
24. Press Right on the D Pad and select “Local Offline” (check the box)
25. Press down on the D pad and start the game

It’s not simple and it’s not pretty, but images from the post indicate that it works. As mentioned, it doesn’t work for online matches, so this can only be done with offline matches against bots.

It was recently announced that Halo Infinite will be getting a slew of accessibility features at launch, as Microsoft held a 40-minute showcase of a plethora of plans for accessibility features across all of its gaming platforms.

In other news, the developers behind the critically acclaimed Sonic Mania have said their new studio is working on a “fully original” 3D action platformer.