Split Fiction's Friend's Pass Is Something All Co-Op Games Should Have. Here's How It Works

Following in the footsteps of It Takes Two's success, developer Hazelight Studios is releasing Split Fiction, another convention-defying co-op game. Typically, co-op games require both players to own the game and have it installed on their platform of choice, but like It Takes Two, Split Fiction is a little bit different. It has a friend pass, which changes the game completely.

As games get more and more expensive, it becomes more and more difficult to suggest co-op games to friends without feeling like you're asking them to spend a ton of money. This can make gaming with friends tricky, and it's turned me off more than one game a friend has asked me to play. For those of you who, like me, are on a limited game budget, Split Fiction offers the perfect solution.

More Games Need A Friend's Pass Like Split Fiction Has

Not Only Is It Good Marketing, It's A Break For Players

The concept of Split Fiction's Friend Pass, which makes it possible for multiple people to play with only one copy, might be most familiar to anyone who used a Nintendo DS. The DS Download Play feature offered the ability to play multiplayer titles with friends with only one copy among the players. The Switch doesn't include a successor to this function, however, and playing a paid multiplayer title on the console requires everyone involved to own the game.

I Played 3 Hours Of Split Fiction And I'm Convinced This Is A New Benchmark For Co-Op

Hazelight's Split Fiction is a brand-new cooperative game that builds upon It Takes Two and takes things so much further.

Posts8

In a world where games can cost $40, $50, $60, and $70 without anyone blinking, one of the biggest hurdles in front of widespread success is convincing your audience that your game is worth the money is necessary. For Hazelight, A Way Out and It Takes Two being co-op-only games could have severely limited the potential audience, and getting people to play with their friends without creating a huge financial commitment may have been key to their success. Enter the Friend's Pass.

With the Friend's Pass, getting a co-op audience doesn't require each set of two players to make the same purchasing decision, allowing Hazelight to sidestep much of the difficulty of making a co-op-only game. Despite missing the single-player audience, both of Hazelight's games did incredibly well on release, with It Takes Two winning numerous awards at The Game Awards in 2021, including Game of the Year. Following up this tradition with Split Fiction simply makes sense, and it's a move that other studios should consider when releasing co-op games.

How Split Fiction's Friend's Pass Works

Split The Cost Or Mooch Off Your Co-Op Partner

As Split Fiction can only be played co-op, limiting the number of players who can purchase it is a bad marketing decision. Hazelight has solved this issue by requiring only one player to own the game, while the other can download the free Friend's Pass version of the game. This means that as long as one of the two players owns the full version of the game, the two can play it together.

The best way to convince someone to play a game with you is by telling them it's free, so if you're willing to pay the cash, any one of Hazelight's co-op games will be a great time.

While this does mean that the player who owns the Friend's Pass cannot play without someone who owns the game, it's unlikely that this will become a problem unless they want to play it again with someone else. If the Friend's Pass user does like the game enough for a second playthrough, they're likely not going to be upset about spending some money supporting it. After I finished It Takes Two for the first time, I couldn't stop recommending it to people, and I'm sure many others felt the same way.

Does This Mean You Can Play Split Fiction For Free?

If You've Got Friends Who Are Willing To Front The Cash, Then Yes

Zoe and Mio's outfits transforming in Split Fiction

While one of the two players is going to need to fork over the money, the other of the pair does get to play for free. When I played It Takes Two's wonderful co-op with my partner, they paid, so it looks like I'll be the one paying for Split Fiction while they benefit. No matter which of the two pays, this co-op game is sure to be another engaging experience if It Takes Two and A Way Out are anything to go by. Both games tugged at my heartstrings, so I'm prepared for this one to be equally excellent.

May from It Takes Two, Rayman, and a character from Borderlands 3 with a PS5

10 Best Games On PS5 With Local Co-Op

Local co-op games are not as popular as they used to be, but there is still quite a vast collection to choose from in the Playstation store.

Posts

With a much larger file size than anything on DS Download Play, the free player will still have to download a Friend's Pass copy of the game, which contains the full experience but relies on the license from the paying player to work. After the release of Split Fictionon Thursday, March 6th at 11:00 PM EST, both players can start downloading in preparation to enter the worlds of Mio and Zoe's work. You can also play cross-platform, so there are almost unlimited ways to play this game as long as you have a buddy to play with.

zo/span>lentz