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[SuomiDude]

I don't like playing with strangers at all, so online is basically out of question for me. Sure there's few friends I could probably play with, but not being able to visually see them all the time and not being able to have small-(shit)-talking all the time between them (has direct impact of them not being there right with you, voice chat isn't the same), so it's definately not the same. I've played couple of games online and the experience has been bad, so I'm not going to bother.

I have a wife, with whom I played Yoshi's Woolly World for example and that game was a blast in couch co-op. I have siblings and especially my big brother lives very close to my house, so we've been playing lots of local multiplayer games with him. Then there's also some friends that can come to play (or I can go to their places) if we so decide, so local multiplayer is definately a must. I mostly play on Wii U (and in future with Switch) and sometimes on PC.

 

[capylikesgames]

Super important to me, which is funny considering I play my games on PC. So I pretty much settle for indies and emulation when I want to play games with family. That said, I do hope Valve tries to invite devs to do more local co-op in their Steam releases, with their big focus on their Controller API lately. In particular, I'd love to see more shooters natively support the Steam Controller. I played L4D2 split-screen a while back, and it was amazing having mouse-like input available on two controllers simultaneously. Borderlands in particular would be amazing that way, but sadly, the game has no split-screen support on PC, let alone native SC support. :'/ There's no real excuse on PC either, since there's bound to be a system configuration that can run your game in split-screen, whereas on consoles, it's understandable if developers tried to push the hardware as hard as possible, and just couldn't manage to make split-screen run smoothly.

 

[Platy]

90% of my playtime is local multiplayer.

The main reason why I only have a WiiU and PC.

So ... Ridiculously important

 

[SkyOdin]

Local multiplayer can mean the choice between buying a game or passing on it for me. For example, I have zero interest in Halo 5 after they dropped local campaign co-op. On the flip side, I specifically bought Divinity: Original Sin because it had local multiplayer (I don't usually play games in its genre).

If you give a game local multiplayer, I am automatically much more interested in buying it.

 

[Pachael]

Splitscreen is very uninteresting to me.

On the other hand, decent shared screen local cooperative gameplay (and for the main campaign, not some tacked-on "modes") increases the likelihood that I'll buy a game by at least 500%. Probably more than that.

Edit:
Actually, certainly more than that, looking at the makeup of my Steam library compared to the overall ratio of shared screen cooperative games on the platform.

Sonic 2 and 3K were a godsend since my bro played with Tails and myself Sonic and it was great for getting to high places, assisting in grabbing a few lost rings or getting some cheap hits on the boss. Mania should cover that too.

Hoping there will be a port of New SMB to say Switch since that was great for 4P chaotic platform action. Or Smash.

Local splitscreen is the next best option where your character can't be colocated e.g. Mario Kart. It's especially important as I might not go ahead with online pay (sic).

 

[StalkerUKCG]

Belive it or not but everyone isnt hermits, childless, friendless or single..

Believe* it or not. Some people work 9-5 Monday to Saturday, Allocate time for their partner and have friends who also work (many with different shift patterns). All resulting in very little face to face interaction with life long friends.

Local multiplayer is essentially worthless to myself and virtually everyone I know. If we want to play together we all have multiple online consoles and PC's and it's much more reasonable to expect a buddy to jump on Halo 5 in the comfort of his own home after a 11 hour shift than it is for him to come to mine so we can play on the same TV

 

[Bishop89]

not important at all to me.

 

[Radnom]

It's hugely important to me, partly because it's the most fun that I ever have playing games and partly because I love making them. I made four 8 player local multiplayer games during the Global Game Jam this weekend. Local multiplayer is just special.

 

[Rockondevil]

I haven't used local multiplayer in probably 15 or so years myself.
However I do believe plenty of people use it and depending on the game it definitely has its place.

 

[Velurian]

I collect local mp games. Have well over 100 and the most fun I've had in games is with buddies playing local coop.

I am always baffled when games with great local mp potential choose to discard it. Racers are an easy example on pc very often...

 

[Fahzgoolin]

Even if it's just an average game, if it includes local play I'm all for it.

Wife time.

 

[muleyman13]

To me sometimes it can be a sell or no sell , so I'd say rather important.

 

[Daeoc]

Not important at all, if a game is clearly meant to be played with others and it only has local multiplayer then I likely won't buy it.

Belive it or not but everyone isnt hermits, childless, friendless or single..

This is probably why it isn't important to me.

 

[bounchfx]

local multiplayer has always been far more fun than online in my experience

problem is online is far far far more convenient

i'd like both when possible

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Very important. I play Diablo III all the time now!

 

[amrum]

Local Multiplayer is FUN with friends & family.
Local Multiplayer is the reason why i'm buying the Nintendo Switch !

I'm gonna have fun with my son playing Snipperclips, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe & Super Bomberman R !

Imagine a game like Super Monkey Ball without local multiplayer ? it wouldn't be funny...

 

[Fbh]

Currently it's probably one of the least important aspects.

Though that's mostly based on my current situation. I moved to another country a year and half ago and so literally everyone I play videogames with lives across the ocean. So online multiplayer is all I care about.


BUT, some of my favorite gaming memories come from playing stuff like Gears of War, Halo, Mario Kart and Smash with friends in the same room.

 

[Matthew23]

I'm always on the lookout for a good local co-op game and it's the primary reason why I own a console to augment my pc gaming. I've played a lot of split screen games over the years but my favorite experience is a game like Diablo 3 where everyone shares the screen. Split screen racers and shooters work ok but I have a hard with a game like Minecraft where the UI is so hard to see.

Over the holidays there was a PS4 set up at my parents place and my nieces and nephews got to play Broforce for the first time and it was pretty much all the did for the weekend. It was a nice reminder of how things used to be for me.

I don't play very many multi player games anymore but would absolutely purchase a good local co-op game even if it had no single player component.

 

[Burning Justice]

It used to mean more to me when I was younger, but local multiplayer has very little importance to me now. None of my friends who play video games live near me anymore, so I rarely get the chance to play local multiplayer nowadays. Online is far more important to me.

 

[RemiLP]

Very important.

If there is a game im intrested in, but not 100% sold on, but then see it has local MP/split screen, i will buy it for that.

 

[RemiLP]

Massively unimportant. Are people over 20 really getting all their friends round to play smash bros or Mario kart locally?

I think for older people, its more about playing with your GF/wife/child.

 

[Platy]

Massively unimportant. Are people over 20 really getting all their friends round to play smash bros or Mario kart locally?

30 year old here.

When I call friends to drink at my house we always end up playing smash and Mario kart, yes

 

[thomasmahler]

Interesting data here. I'd say we're at about a 50/50 split when it comes to local Multiplayer: Incredibly important to some, but for others it's all about online.

What's interesting to me is that you guys make a big distinction based on the games. As in, if a game like Mario Kart or Smash has Local Multiplayer, you probably make use of it or you'd even expect those games to have that feature - but you don't expect other games to have Local Multi anymore. I'm just guessing, but I'd say if Nintendo would remove Split Screen from Mario Kart in favor of just online multiplayer, there'd be quite the riot from Nintendo fans...

Personally, I'm just wondering if we might have a big market gap here. I thought it was interesting how Diablo 3 turned Diablo into a party-game in Local Multiplayer and there's almost no RPGs out there where you can actually sit down together to go looting and slashing. For people that don't have friends / family that can play with them, they can just play online, but if you often play with friends / family on your couch and you're into RPGs, there's almost nothing for you out there...

 

[Shrimpkebab]

Dealbreaker for me on console, I only use my consoles to play coop splitscreen.
If i wanna play online by myself i use the PC.

 

[Donniewahlberg]

Personally, I'm just wondering if we might have a big market gap here. I thought it was interesting how Diablo 3 turned Diablo into a party-game in Local Multiplayer and there's almost no RPGs out there where you can actually sit down together to go looting and slashing. For people that don't have friends / family that can play with them, they can just play online, but if you often play with friends / family on your couch and you're into RPGs, there's almost nothing for you out there...

It's a shame too. If you look at the Coop implementation in Divinity Original Sin, you can see how sensible design can provide a fantastic experience. Online but even more so locally, its fun to strategise together and share loot but with the potential for some competitive elements in the dialogues etc. Would love to have more experiences like that on the couch. If only someone was considering such a thing!

 

[brunomartynhak]

That depends on the game.

For party games it is essential. Gangs Beast, Genital Jousting, Clusterpuck, Kart Games, etc.

For more complex games I would prefer online. As friends coming over would struggle to learn mechanics and it is hard to get people coming over repeatedly in our early 30s/late 20s to finish a long game.

I do like story-driven campaigns like Resident Evil 6, easy enough for my GF to play with me and enjoy some progression. We are actually craving for more of this. We prefer shared screen rather than split-screen though, like Diablo 3 and old Lego games.

For a RPG? If it can be played a mindlessly like Diablo 3, it is a good thing for local multiplayer. I had a blast playing a few times with my GF on console. If it is more of a traditional cRPG, where things can be a bit overwhelming, I would say don't bother with local.

Thanks for asking Thomas. Hope I have made myself clear enough to you a little bit.

Edit 1:

Personally, I'm just wondering if we might have a big market gap here. I thought it was interesting how Diablo 3 turned Diablo into a party-game in Local Multiplayer and there's almost no RPGs out there where you can actually sit down together to go looting and slashing. For people that don't have friends / family that can play with them, they can just play online, but if you often play with friends / family on your couch and you're into RPGs, there's almost nothing for you out there...

That fits what I said above, if simplified I think it would work. Divinity was too much to ask for newcomers for local play, but Diablo 3 was great for some time (then combat gets a bit dull and we don't care about loot). At least in my experience.

Edit 2:

What's especially baffling to me is that developers go out of their way to remove local multiplayer features specifically for PC games. Why in the world can't I play games like Borderlands or Portal or Call of Duty in splitscreen on a PC? I mean, that's where I could play on my TV in splitscreen and still get 60fps....

Oh, and multi-monitor support for PC games is also great. Shame it is so rare to find.

 

[vern]

I despise playing games online so local multiplayer is a must for any decent multiplayer game.

Wii U and MK8 was the best thing from this past gen.

 

[CrazyArcadia]

90% of my playtime is local multiplayer.

The main reason why I only have a WiiU and PC.

So ... Ridiculously important

Closer to 30-40% for me but still significant enough that online multiplayer only is actually a dealbreaker for me (hyped for Splatoon 2 since it seems this at least allows splitscreen coop in online)

 

[Van Bur3n]

Not very important anymore. I wish it weren't that way though. I miss the days of playing Halo with my brothers.

 

[Zyrox]

Absolutely not important to me as I don't have anyone to play with locally.

 

[rainz]

Its important if its a game/series i would expect to have it.. And its a shame a lot of racing games and fps etc these last gens have ditched it.. I dont buy games based on it but its nice to have for small gatherings.

Also everyone who said its important needs to play Overcooked. Its that good!

 

[jon bones]

Sadly it's no longer important as I get older. Good online play is important, but there are so many games coming out it's tough to get all my friends playing a single game or two.

Massively unimportant. Are people over 20 really getting all their friends round to play smash bros or Mario kart locally?

In my 20s I lived with 2 of my best friends for years, so 3player MP wasn't uncommon.

Now at 30 I'm with my non-gamer wife, and if we host friends we usually aren't playing games.

 

[GTR R35_Supra RZ]

OP, zero, none, never used it, never will.. Ever since XBL launched i even forgot it existed.

 

[Jiffster]

Pretty much game dependant really.

Dads and Moms might like to play games with their kids.

Brothers and sisters might like to play games with their siblings.

there are some obvious genres/titles that are far more suited to local MP than others (e.g. fifa) and this kind of extends to rpg/platformer/puzzle games to a degree too (trine series). But hard to think of any games that require local mp these days

there isnt really an easy way to gauge importance of LMP as a feature without knowing more about the game and it's mechanics.

 

[Klart]

I'd LOVE local multiplayer / splitscreen for an RPG.

 

[FyreWulff]

It's very sad when a developer omits it. Local MP belongs in every game where possible.

There are also game genres where online MP would either be impossible or unplayable.

 

[EternalDarko]

With friends and families over for parties, local-multi is essential. Play that more than online these days.

 

[Joey Ravn]

As much as online multiplayer, which is nada.

Zero.

 

[pelican]

I have zero interest in local multiplayer - just online.

 

[vern]

Massively unimportant. Are people over 20 really getting all their friends round to play smash bros or Mario kart locally?

I'm 32 but not married or anything insane like that, I play games with whatever girl I'm dating or with my friends. I wouldn't say it's common to have friends over to play , but I've got no desire to compete online against random people either. Multiplayer games only happen locally in my home, when they happens. If no one is there with me I'll play a single player game. I don't get the appeal of online multiplayer at all. Just endless meaningless repetition with no sense of progress or accomplishment.

 

[YoodlePro]

I think it depends on the person and on the game.

For me? Well I tend to focus on Local Multiplayer games as I enjoy playing with my gf. However, I do buy games which I'll only play by myself as she won't be into them (Battlefield, Witcher, Skyrim etc). I also buy games which she just watches like a movie (Uncharteds, God of War, TLOU).

TL;DR: Yes Local Multiplayer/COOP is extremely important for me and the games that have it will be bought before any other games

 

[JohnWest]

Local multiplayer was what i grew up with, playing with my brother all the time. Then there was a time where i was really into online multiplayer, particularly CS, Quake and Starcraft..
But I think the older I get now the less important online is for me. I get very little playtime in due to having a wife and a son and my best shot at playing a bunch is in the evening when the little one's asleep and if my wife is into the game too and it has local coop.
We played a bunch of Mario 3D World and interestingly she was really into the indie game How to Survive. Now I got myself a PS4 and I'm really disappointed by how few games have local coop mode. I will definitely be getting Diablo 3 though
Also Splitscreen is not very interesting, same screen is the way to go.

Oh and I guess Splatoon was an exception, cause my wife really got into it and we just took turns playing online. However she has stated so many times how much more she would enjoy it if we could play together.

 

[Triteon]

Very important.

Im old my friends have kids, we dont go out to hang out anymore.

We make meals, the kids play in the backyard or watch a film in another room we game or play pool or cards.

Rockband still gets alot of play, COD Zombies, fighers, beat em ups.

Every year though less and less AAA games have decent local multi and my friends are not really the indie type.

 

[:Motorbass]

Massively unimportant. Are people over 20 really getting all their friends round to play smash bros or Mario kart locally?

Uh yes? I'm 36.

So very important. I rarely play online.

 

[zulux21]

depends on the game and platform.

I have two gaming pcs in the house so if a game has online MP i can just buy it twice over and it's not an issue.

if it's on one of my consoles it's very very important though as I don't have 2 ps4, and I have no plans to get one so having local MP is a must as i mostly play MP games with my wife anymore.

beyond that though the gameplay can matter quite a bit as well. trying to coordinate things online is a bit harder than on a local MP, so i prefer local MP for that.

 

[phanphare]

Massively unimportant. Are people over 20 really getting all their friends round to play smash bros or Mario kart locally?

shit yeah

you're not?!?!

 

[Coxy100]

Massively unimportant. Are people over 20 really getting all their friends round to play smash bros or Mario kart locally?

I'm 35

Not those games no - but do I play rocket league and overcooked with some of my friends when they visit us? yes? Couldn't give a shit about online multiplayer - it's all about local for me. I gave up online gaming a while ago now.

 

[Adam Tyner]

Oh and I guess Splatoon was an exception, cause my wife really got into it and we just took turns playing online. However she has stated so many times how much more she would enjoy it if we could play together.

Nintendo says that Splatoon 2 has local multiplayer Turf War. (...and my wife's excited about that too! She got even more into Splatoon than I did, but the only way we could play together without buying another Wii U was the lame balloon popping thing.)

 

[Fireblend]

Crucial for me. I play local multiplayer frequently, with friends, my brother, my gitlfriend, coworkers at lunch, etc... just in my office I know like 5 people who preordered the Switch day 1 and we're already hyped for local MK8D, Splatoon, Bomberman, Puyo Puyo...

If Rocket League comes to the Switch we'll probably just not work at all

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Split screen is pretty important for me. It's awesome when I have people over and we can easily just play something together. These days it feels like there is less and less available on PS4/Xbox One for split screen. I'm quite thankful that Horizon 3 and Gears 4 both have splitscreen and it's what's making me consider buying them down the line as well.

My biggest issue by far with Halo 5 is the lack of splitscreen. They need to have it in H6.

Same. I was really disappointed it got completely removed. They did such a bad job with Halo 4's splitscreen that practically no one used it(even with 2 people per console it lagged heavily). Then they removed System Link/Lan for MCC onwards. Franky did say that they will be trying to re-introduce some of those features back in MS games.