Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 director on challenges of four-player co-op
Cold Iron Studios' Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 game director Chris Cross explained the challenges of developing a four-player co-op game, citing balancing the 'attention economy' and managing assets on screen. The decision was highly requested by fans and works better in a PVE game.
Key points
- Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 game director Chris Cross said the sequel's four-player co-op was highly requested by fans.
- The four-player co-op presents challenges, including balancing the 'attention economy' and managing assets on screen.
- Cross stated that four players works better in a PVE game due to the ability to have two pairs of players.
- The game's development team had to manage four times the amount of assets on screen compared to the previous two-player game.
Cold Iron Studios' Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 game director Chris Cross recently discussed the challenges of developing a four-player co-op game. In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026, Cross explained that the decision to make the sequel four-player was highly requested by fans. However, he also acknowledged that it presented several challenges.
One of the main challenges was balancing the 'attention economy' and managing assets on screen. Cross stated that with four players, there are four times the amount of assets that need to be displayed, including enemies and effects. This requires the development team to manage enough targets and distractions for the team to focus on.
Cross also mentioned that the four-player co-op works better in a PVE game due to the ability to have two pairs of players. This allows for more combinatory-like abilities and mixing and matching of player skills.
The decision to make Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 a four-player co-op game has been met with excitement from fans, but it remains to be seen how the game will perform in terms of gameplay and overall experience.
Sources
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