343 could have done everything right with Halo 4 and the game would still have dropped off the charts like it did. BF and Cod are now the two big guns in multiplayer, plus the biggest franchises in the world. Halo to a certain extent reached its peak with Halo 3 multiplayer wise. There's no way they could continue to rival Cod and BF forever.
343 could have done everything right with Halo 4 and the game would still have dropped off the charts like it did. BF and Cod are now the two big guns in multiplayer, plus the biggest franchises in the world. Halo to a certain extent reached its peak with Halo 3 multiplayer wise. There's no way they could continue to rival Cod and BF forever.
343 could have done everything right with Halo 4 and the game would still have dropped off the charts like it did. BF and Cod are now the two big guns in multiplayer, plus the biggest franchises in the world. Halo to a certain extent reached its peak with Halo 3 multiplayer wise. There's no way they could continue to rival Cod and BF forever.
Look at the rankings. There are three CODs and two Battlefields with more players than Halo 4. Gears of War 3 is slumming, but it's been a long while since that came out. Sure there was Judgement, but I don't think anyone but maybe Epic considers that AAA. That was DOA on release.
Guess we'll have to wait until Spring, but Titanfall and Destiny will prove you completely wrong.
Reach and 4 truly are the Bionic and Lotus of the series. I have slight hope for Halo 5 but I highly doubt it will come close to Halo 3 in quality.
I dunno. Halo 4 was more Born This Way. It had a few heights, but the lows kinda ruined the whole experience.
343 could have done everything right with Halo 4 and the game would still have dropped off the charts like it did. BF and Cod are now the two big guns in multiplayer, plus the biggest franchises in the world. Halo to a certain extent reached its peak with Halo 3 multiplayer wise. There's no way they could continue to rival Cod and BF forever.
Does Battlefield even sell anywhere near as much as Halo?343 could have done everything right with Halo 4 and the game would still have dropped off the charts like it did. BF and Cod are now the two big guns in multiplayer, plus the biggest franchises in the world. Halo to a certain extent reached its peak with Halo 3 multiplayer wise. There's no way they could continue to rival Cod and BF forever.
Edit. However, if they listen to the fans, and learn from thier mistakes, then it's plausible Halo will hang around the charts longer.
And you know this how? What was the last AAA arena shooter that was on Xbox that had no loadouts/perks/killstreaks?
Oh that was Halo 3.
......
On the anecdotal side, I saw it all up and down my friend's list. Guys who I had played H2 and 3 with for years, and who were a bit turned off by Reach, were all excited for H4. "Halo is back", they said. Everyone went to the midnight launch, we all split into groups of 4 to play campaign, and then we started playing MP. We stayed up until 6 in the morning doing it on launch night. We played into the next day, and the day after. Within a few days, everyone was pretty turned off by the problems listed in the OP. The game (MP, specifically) just wasn't very good, there's no getting around it.
What game did they move on to?
funny thing is no one cared about cod till the 4th installment was released. now developers stray from what made their mp unique to copy it.
I really miss the 50 level system. I think moving to an always advancing leveling system was a bad idea. The fact that you could lose you level by doing badly made winning or losing a big deal. It made me want to keep playing. It was a nice challenge.
I know Bungie made the switch but I would like to see that system come back even though I'm pretty sure it's gone for good
What game did they move on to?
These are poor examples though. Planetside 2 is a boring game. Sure it has huge scale, but everything feels like it's made of cardboard, and the shooting is rotten. It's just a very poor shooter compared to Battlefield no matter the theme. It also has no console presence, which is a big deal for shooters now. While Borderlands 2 is co-op and based on content. Most people have gone through the game and all the DLC a while ago. Of course it would drop off.I can guarantee Titanfall is going to do really well. It benefits from being an exclusive and has a CoD attachment factor that has and is going to be played up to the userbase. I don't think it will do CoD numbers though. Destiny will do well as well but I'm not betting on CoD numbers either. We've seen what Planetside 2 has been doing on PC. We can see Borderlands 2 not even charting on 360 right now.
This post should be printed on huge banners and hung in every room of 343's offices.One of my friends who pretty much only plays nothing but Halo on a regular basis got 4 played it for a couple months then switched to Alien:CM multiplayer. Nuff said
One of my friends who pretty much only plays nothing but Halo on a regular basis got 4 played it for a couple months then switched to Alien:CM multiplayer. Nuff said
They actually brought back 1-50 ranks in the form of CSR, but you can't actually see it in-game, only on Waypoint, and it's alays out of date by one game. Also 343 did a really bad job of informing people that it exists. It's kind of a joke, really.
I forgot about that. By the time they put it in I had already stopped playing. What took them so long to put it in?
So, you make this claim that the speed and extent of Halo 4's population decline is typical for AAA shooters in this day and age, provide no basis whatsoever for that statement, and then come back asking those who disagree to provide it for you?
In early-mid 2010, three years past its launch, Halo 3 was competing against three Call of Duty games, including MW2 and was pulling anywhere between 10 and 15 times the daily peak population that Halo 4 was 6 months past its launch. There is no way to sugarcoat or spin what happened with H4's multiplayer. It was an abject failure no matter what angle you try to look at it from.
Halo 4 was dead to me the moment I popped it in to play 4 play local co-op online and the frame rate kept dropping.
What's a Halo game without 4 of your buddies playing with you on your couch?
What happened? The best Halo game was released. Everyone I know personaly agrees. Only on forums have I heard otherwise.
Nice charts and annotation in the OP.
The game still sold pretty well but i do think there was massive franchise fatigue by this point (same with Gears of War Judgment). I wonder how things would have been if they had postponed release until Xbox One launch. Lower sales for sure, but potentially much longer legs.
Halo 4 feels like a throwaway entry in the series. Personally i thought it was okay - the multiplayer was fun for a while and the campaign had some cool missions, but i got a lot more out of Halo 3 and Reach. Reach in particular i played on and off for well over a year, whereas Halo 4 i don't think i played longer than a week or two after launch.
Assuming the people you know is a lot less than people who think its bad. Its cool if you like the game but citing "people you know" isn't really that good.....What happened? The best Halo game was released. Everyone I know personaly agrees. Only on forums have I heard otherwise.
What happened? The best Halo game was released. Everyone I know personaly agrees. Only on forums have I heard otherwise.
I loved Halo 4.
meh @ all the issues noted in the OP. I thought it was a worthy effort for a newbie dev trying to climb out of Bungie's giant shadow. I still boot it up sometimes and always have a blast
What happened? The best Halo game was released. Everyone I know personaly agrees. Only on forums have I heard otherwise.
It's been said numerous times already. They need to return Halo back to it's roots not only for multiplayer but campaign as well. Even small things that are actually important like the classic Halo theme needs to be in Halo 5.
They really do need to bring the monks back.
I'll tell you what happened.
They lost track of what the series excelled at. Simplicity.
They lost track of catering to the top percent of the competitive crowd. Creating a watered down competitive game where the skill level never goes beyond casual.
They lost track of how to tell a story without needing to read a book to understand its intricacies.
They lost track of providing cutting edge features out side of the main game.
They lost track of how to interact with their community with honesty and humility. It's okay to say we screwed up.
Which makes me more sad then ever, because Frankie, David Ellis and Co are good people.
Franchise fatigue...Reach and OSDT shouldn't have happened...