Halo: Campaign Evolved might be a silly name, but it isn’t doing silly numbers. The remake is due to launch on July 28, and ahead of release it has already been climbing the PS5 pre-order charts, even topping them in several regions. Somehow, though, what should have been an easy win has become needlessly messy. Because the game industry just can’t help itself.

The issue is how Campaign Evolved handles co-op, especially on PS5. Before you venture further, I want to say that the chances are very high that this whole thing is just a misunderstanding. But let’s talk about it, just in case.

According to Halo Studios, Halo: Campaign Evolved requires a Microsoft account and Xbox Gamertag on every platform. That part is not especially unusual. Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite already do this for cross-platform progression, and Sony has also pushed PSN account linking for some of its own PC releases. The Helldivers 2 debacle being the prime example.

The stranger part is the platform-by-platform requirements.

Platform	Local split-screen	Online co-op	The awkward bit
Xbox Series X|S	Second player needs a “unique” Microsoft account.	Requires an active Xbox Game Pass subscription.	It is unclear whether a standard Xbox guest account will work, since Halo Studios specifically says the second player needs a “unique” Microsoft account.
PlayStation 5	Both accounts need PlayStation Plus and both must be linked to Microsoft accounts.	Those PS Plus subscriptions also provide online co-op access.	The wording appears to apply even to local couch co-op, unless Halo Studios clarifies otherwise.
Steam	No split-screen listed. Split-screen is console-only.	Requires linking a Microsoft account.	No paid online subscription is mentioned for PC.

On Xbox Series X|S, then, local split-screen appears to require the second player to use a separate Microsoft account rather than simply jumping in as a guest. Personally, I think this will be clarified later so that guest accounts can be used as normal to play local-co-op. If that ends up not being the case, though, people will be extra annoyed.

For online co-op, players will need an active Xbox Game Pass subscription, which is fairly standard for online play on Xbox.

On PS5, however, the requirements are much stranger. Halo Studios says that if you are playing split-screen on PlayStation 5, both accounts need PlayStation Plus and both must be linked to Microsoft accounts. The post then adds that those active PlayStation Plus subscriptions will also provide access to online co-op, which makes the wording sound like PS Plus is required even for local couch co-op.

If that is genuinely how it works, two people sitting on the same sofa could need two PSN accounts, two Microsoft accounts, and two PlayStation Plus subscriptions just to play split-screen Halo together on PS5. At current UK pricing, that could mean roughly £16 a month in combined PS Plus Essential costs.

Steam players, by comparison, seem to have the cleanest setup: link a Microsoft account and get on with it.

The whole thing might most likely clumsy wording, and hopefully Halo Studios clarifies it before launch. But as currently written, Campaign Evolved’s PS5 split-screen requirements are bizarrely strict for a game whose couch co-op nostalgia is supposed to be one of the selling points.

The most realistic take here is that Halo Studios wrote and worded the post poorly. It’s far more likely that the second player on PlayStation will be able to use a guest account to play local co-op without any issue.