Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Splitscreen: How it works

Online multiplayer has made gaming with friends incredibly easy. You can easily play multiplayer with your buddies as if they were sitting right next to you. But what if your friends are actually sitting next to you on the couch and you want to play together? Local multiplayer and split-screen modes are unfortunately a bit out of fashion. Shooter fans can rejoice, though: In Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War (), the good old splitscreen mode is still available.

In this guide to CoD Black Ops Cold War you will learn:

  • Which game modes are supported in splitscreen
  • How to activate the splitscreen in the game
  • Which bugs you have to reckon with in splitscreen

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Splitscreen: Supported modes & requirements

If you want to play CoD Black Ops Cold War in splitscreen with your friends, you can choose between two modes: multiplayer and zombies. Unfortunately, the campaign cannot be played in co-op with a split screen. It is unlikely that developer Treyarch will add a local co-op mode for the story. But you can have a lot of fun in multiplayer and especially with zombies in split-screen mode.

An Activision account is no longer necessary when playing in split-screen. In the predecessor Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, however, it was still mandatory. In Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, the necessity depends on the game mode.

If you want to fight a duel alone with your friends or shoot the undead in Zombies, then you don't need the Activision account. All you need is a PSN or Xbox Live account for the second player. If your friends don't have one yet, you can create an account for them directly from your console in a few minutes.

If, on the other hand, you want to take part in online matches with your buddies in split screen, things look quite different. Here, each of you needs

  • a PSN or Xbox Live account, respectively
  • an Activision account
  • a valid PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription, respectively

You can create the Activision account on the official website before you start playing. Alternatively, you can create an account directly in the game. Ideally, you should already have a PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription. If you don't, you can easily and quickly get a subscription here.

And what about split screen on PC?

Unfortunately, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War does not support splitscreen on the PC. Developers apparently still assume that gamers on the PC play with a mouse and keyboard on a relatively small screen. However, many gamers now also use controllers and large displays for some games on the PC.

CoD Black Ops Cold War Splitscreen: How to start the local multiplayer

To play Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War's multiplayer mode in splitscreen, you have to follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your console with a second controller and select or create a PSN or Xbox Live account. Make sure that the account has a valid PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription if you want to play online in split-screen mode.
  2. Start the game and switch to the main menu of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War.
  3. Here you can choose whether you want to play in splitscreen locally or online. On PS4/PS5 you can switch between both options with the square button, on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S with the X button.
  4. After that, choose multiplayer or zombies.
  5. In the lobby, the second player now has the option to join the party. On the PlayStation, he has to press the X key, on the Xbox the whole thing works with the A key.
  6. Before you start a match, you can change the split of the screen if you wish. By default, the screen is split horizontally. If you prefer a vertically split screen, navigate to "Settings > Graphics" and select vertical in the menu item Splitscreen.
  7. Start the match.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Splitscreen: Bugs & Limitations

Unfortunately, you can't get rid of the thick black bars at the edges in splitscreen.

Those who are familiar with the technically mature split-screen mode of Call of Duty Modern Warfare might be a bit disappointed by the split-screen in Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. Unfortunately, there are still bugs more than half a year after the release. It happens that the models of the characters or weapons become invisible, which makes a match practically unplayable. Occasionally, even the complete HUD disappears for the second player.

Furthermore, the entire screen is not used in the splitscreen of CoD Black Ops Cold War. You will have to get used to thick black bars at the edges. It is not known why a full-screen display like in Modern Warfare's splitscreen is not possible. In addition, there are occasional frame rate drops. However, these are now much less frequent than when the game was released.

More guides to CoD Black Ops Cold War:

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