This might be the weirdest story I've reported on in a while. Capcom announced local co-op for Resident Evil: Revelations 2 on PC before saying it was a mistake. Then, a modder added local co-op to the game in a matter of days. Now, Capcom is officially adding the feature themselves!
When Revelations 2 was listed on Steam for pre-orders, it mentioned local co-op, but as the game launched, a tiny caveat at the bottom of the game's description mentioned this wasn't true. Naturally, fans were upset. It's not uncommon for split-screen features to be dropped on PC, but at the very least, publishers should be upfront about the changes and Capcom wasn't.
Within days, a modder added local co-op to the game, suggesting it wasn't terribly difficult. While it's hard to say what prompted Capcom to officially start building the feature into Revelations 2, having your fans figure it out less than a week after release probably didn't help.
On Steam today, Capcom announced players could opt into a beta version with local co-op:
"Hello RE fans,
Following Resident Evil Revelations 2 PC player feedback, we've got some new information to share. The development team has been exploring various options and we're in the process of creating a way for players to utilize a local co-op feature
Soon we plan to release a beta branch on Steam which will allow two players to play the Story and Raid modes locally via a split screen. We want to get this feature in the hands of our PC players as soon as possible, so this option may not be 100% polished when it is released. Feedback from those who try it out is welcomed. For anyone who isn't satisfied with this option, refunds are available through Steam."
If you'd like to participate, instructions for joining the beta version of Revelations 2 are here.
I'd like to say this is the last time I'm writing about this story, but who knows at this point?
You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.