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Halo Infinite will be made for fans and newcomers; Game Pass influenced the development

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

At a presentation featuring LEVEL UP, a spokesperson for 343 Industries acknowledged that Xbox Game Pass influenced the way they designed Halo Infinite. This can be seen in the way they designed the story so that anyone can understand it. In other words, they wanted Infinite to be a good entry point into Halo.

"Game Pass is an exciting opportunity with all the inertia of millions of subscribers. We definitely had that in mind. We wanted it to be a great place for all players to make the jump into the Halo universe," the studio explained.

It is important to note that this does not mean that Halo Infinite will forget about the veterans of the series. 343 Industries confirmed that they will reward fans with a lot of winks about the series, which will surely arouse an emotional reaction in many.
 
So in other words the plot will be as bland and inoffensive as possible, with as few ties to established continuity as they can hey away with, so as not too scare away anyone.

But hey, you're only paying a couple of bucks a month, right? That means it doesn't matter if it's crap!
 

LordOfChaos

Member
At a presentation featuring LEVEL UP, a spokesperson for 343 Industries acknowledged that Xbox Game Pass influenced the way they designed Halo Infinite. This can be seen in the way they designed the story so that anyone can understand it. In other words, they wanted Infinite to be a good entry point into Halo.


Statements like this keep making me wonder, are they just going to drop the whole Created plotline somewhere off screen? We haven't seen any reference to it in anything from Infinite so far. I did want to get past it and get back into the deeper Halo stuff, but dropping the main enemy faction three games in a row just seems as lacking in a cohesive vision as the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Also I take it it'll have continuous content drops like Destiny 2 to keep people on Gamepass.
 
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Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
So in other words the plot will be as bland and inoffensive as possible, with as few ties to established continuity as they can hey away with, so as not too scare away anyone.

But hey, you're only paying a couple of bucks a month, right? That means it doesn't matter if it's crap!
Playing the Devil's Advocate here, but maybe it means it won't be as confusing and convoluted as some past games.

Let's face it. Halo isn't the easiest story to follow and it jumps all over the place requiring reading novels and wikias. This was especially true of Halo 4.
 

CitizenX

Banned
I just saw a trailer for a new add-on for Minecraft dungeons. Basically instead of releasing full games, or games that are done, here is the first few chapters. Keep paying us and we will get those patches and another chapter out in a few months. See all of their big titles, the plan is in place and it will not be changing.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Playing the Devil's Advocate here, but maybe it means it won't be as confusing and convoluted as some past games.

Let's face it. Halo isn't the easiest story to follow and it jumps all over the place requiring reading novels and wikias. This was especially true of Halo 4.

Which is, I think, why they abandoned the Forerunner plot and went with something entirely in-game understandable with Guardians.

But now if they do that again, dumping the Cortana plot for the Banished? I hope that's not the case, it's not my favorite plotline but you have to have a vision and cohesion between games.
 

Freeman

Banned
All MS games will be "free" 2 play model except you're paying a double subscription

Expect it to be full of overpriced microtransactions just like Gears 5 was. You can see the writing on the wall a mile away
It's crazy enough that they already charge for people to play F2P games. Now they are making it their entire business model.

I can't say I didn't see this coming.
 
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This is genuinely disappointing and shocking to hear coming straight from 343i.

I used to think maybe this kind of shit was just an Anti-Xbox theory, but they're literally confirming the influence of Game Pass on their games.
Gamepass is the future for them though it gone to be the money maker for them way into the future. At the end of the day they are in it to make money all of them are so just worried bout your own platform and where you play from if you don't like gamepass that ok.
 

VAVA Mk2

Member
I could be labelled a Halo fanboy and this is not at all for me. At this point, I want a new gaming PC instead of investing in XBox again. If Halo gets better, at least I can play there now.
 

JTCx

Member
I thought Gamepass wasnt going to influence the game's quality? We were all just 'concern trolling'. LOL

So which is it now? Seems like the flip flopping never stops. I want some good pancakes now.
 

Riven326

Banned
This is genuinely disappointing and shocking to hear coming straight from 343i.

I used to think maybe this kind of shit was just an Anti-Xbox theory, but they're literally confirming the influence of Game Pass on their games.
Indeed. And you know it will be used as an excuse if the game turns out to be mediocre. Hey, its on Gamepass. So it's ok. We saw this same reaction with Crackdown 3.
 

LarknThe4th

Member
It's looking great, and I'm glad they are cutting the story down, keep that extended universe garbage out of Halo, just chief bouncing around killing stuff please

They have a handle on the gameplay loop, looks kinetic and snappy I worry that it is actually full blown open world which would be a bland and boring design choice

Let's see if they stick the landing now though, they are under a LOT of pressure right now
 
Is Halo so inaccessible that the MCC collection which comprises 95% of the Halo experience is NOT enough for newcomers to get into Infinite???? I must be missing something over here. :messenger_unamused:
 

Tiamat2san

Member
Is Halo so inaccessible that the MCC collection which comprises 95% of the Halo experience is NOT enough for newcomers to get into Infinite???? I must be missing something over here. :messenger_unamused:
Accessible in a sense that someone who never played a halo before won’t be lost by the story.
If you haven’t played any it’s ok to begin with this one.
And if you played others there will be a lot references for you.
 
Seems like a pretty vague statement. If the game is set up like Destiny, then there will be plenty of filler to catch people up.
 

GHG

Member
Ya know all these games are still sold at retail...

This is the crux of the problem for me.

If you're going to go down this route and release gutless games as a result of gamepass then stop giving people the option to buy them at full price and just make them gamepass exclusive.

It's a piss take to still allow people to pay full price for these games.
 

Shantae

Banned
I feel like everything Microsoft is doing is wrong.

At one point I was actually convinced that if I was going to get a new console this year, it was gonna be Xbox Series X because of my appreciation for how they've handled BC. However everything they've said regarding game pass, and all their latest first party efforts make me not interested in their future titles at all. I can keep appreciating their BC with my Xbox One X, and don't need to upgrade at all.

They've done nothing but sway me away from buying their new console. Terrible messaging on their part, and I think they're fucking this generation up in a new way.
 
This is the crux of the problem for me.

If you're going to go down this route and release gutless games as a result of gamepass then stop giving people the option to buy them at full price and just make them gamepass exclusive.

It's a piss take to still allow people to pay full price for these games.
If they remove the ability to buy their games physically and go to gamepass only I ain't gonna bother with another Xbox console.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this. They have a lot more potential customers than ever before, and are making sure those customers can engage with their flagship (well, intended...) game.

If this is the dreaded GamePass influence, which seems to be solely dreaded by people who don't own an Xbox, well, that's probably a good influence. Halo 4's apparent deep dive into Halo fiction left even the biggest fans lost, or so I've heard.
 
Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this. They have a lot more potential customers than ever before, and are making sure those customers can engage with their flagship (well, intended...) game.

If this is the dreaded GamePass influence, which seems to be solely dreaded by people who don't own an Xbox, well, that's probably a good influence. Halo 4's apparent deep dive into Halo fiction left even the biggest fans lost, or so I've heard.
That was Halo 5
sdccfictionconnectionbig-396901299ed64e76918ee21b8e50cbb1.png

That was all the sources you had to read/watch to understand Halo 5's story. Normal people started the game and were like who the fuck is that guy? For like 90% of the characters.
 

GHG

Member
If they remove the ability to buy their games physically and go to gamepass only I ain't gonna bother with another Xbox console.

That's the end game for them though.

To be honest, if all publishers have it their way then there will no longer be a physical market at all in a decades time.

However, just because there's no physical market it doesn't mean the quality of the games should suffer.

It's only going to get more difficult for them in the future as more and more publishers start offering their own subscription services, the market will eventually become very fragmented and everyone will rely on their own games to differentiate their respective subscription services. For example the moment Bethesda come up with their own subscription service they will immediately pull their games from gamepass. That's why you don't see EA's or Ubisoft's games on gamepass.

Microsoft need to get their act together because if they want more people to subscribe (and for existing subscribers to stay subscribed) then the quality of their games needs to go up.
 

iorek21

Member
Bah, Halo and Gears were already living off in mediocrity long before this Game Pass business began, so it's very hard to expect anything worthwhile coming with XGP in mind.

Those franchises died when their original developers left; Microsoft should invest in new stuff, like they'll probably do with Avowed, whilst leaving Halo and Gears to the 2000's, where they really belong.
 

Stooky

Member
So Halo is a trojan horse for exclusive gamepass game development. That explains a lot. If it builds up like fortnight it could be good, its going to take some time tho.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
That was Halo 5
sdccfictionconnectionbig-396901299ed64e76918ee21b8e50cbb1.png

That was all the sources you had to read/watch to understand Halo 5's story. Normal people started the game and were like who the fuck is that guy? For like 90% of the characters.

Well, they did it with Halo 4 as I understand, but apparently they doubled down for 5? Insanity.

A Halo game should be something you should just sit down and enjoy by itself, and then you can check out the books if you're interested.

This sounds like going through a small college course on nerd shit, just to understand what's going on.
 

At a presentation featuring LEVEL UP, a spokesperson for 343 Industries acknowledged that Xbox Game Pass influenced the way they designed Halo Infinite. This can be seen in the way they designed the story so that anyone can understand it. In other words, they wanted Infinite to be a good entry point into Halo.

"Game Pass is an exciting opportunity with all the inertia of millions of subscribers. We definitely had that in mind. We wanted it to be a great place for all players to make the jump into the Halo universe," the studio explained.

It is important to note that this does not mean that Halo Infinite will forget about the veterans of the series. 343 Industries confirmed that they will reward fans with a lot of winks about the series, which will surely arouse an emotional reaction in many.

Well the story of Halo sucked anyway so... not a huge loss in that department.
 
It's been called a soft reboot, makes sense for them to make the story accessible.

I'm playing through Halo for the first time right now and even I am lost on some of this shit, knocking them out rapidly and recently. I can't imagine someone new trying to come in and understand what is going on.
 

thelastword

Banned
This is so strange, because MS said gamepass was going to be fuel that expands it's player demographics and cause more people to invest in DLC and MP, but here we have persons accessing a major MP IP through online means and they are focusing on story for said persons? To me story was never really the selling point of Halo...
 

THEAP99

Banned
This was coming and so predictable. People really see “omg great value Gamepass omg omg” without seeing the long term consequences. Shame. I am glad I’m not a halo fan or else I’d be gutted
They really want this to be some Fortnite phenomenon.

halo used to be a trendsetter, now it’s a trend chaser.
 
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