It crossed my mind that another ODST spinoff game with competitive multiplayer as ODSTs would help broaden Halo’s player demographic. Between the Call of Duty and Battlefield series and Halo, there’s a big divide in what types of players gravitate towards each game. The biggest difference is how fast you die. Halo is all about long kill times, CoD about very fast kill times. An ODST game would appeal to the CoD players that like fast kill times while staying true to Halo’s principles since ODSTs are not supersoldiers. Since CoD and Battlefield’s player base absolutely dwarfs Halo’s, there needs to be something to bridge the gap between the two to bring over more players, and I don’t think even Halo 5 can get numbers like the next Call of Duty will.
People need to accept the fact that Halo just isn’t going to reach Call of Duty’s number of players. CoD appeals to a wider audience, while Halo, a sci-fi shooter, does not. Halo still has a large fanbase regardless, so let’s focus on pleasing them instead of trying to bring in more CoD gamers like Halo 4 tried and failed to do.
That said, of course I would love an ODST game with its own multiplayer. I’ve recommended such a game being 3rd person in a few other posts.
Many people would argue that a reason why Halo is struggling with its online multiplayer population is because it has lost or given up some quit significant defining characteristics of itself and instead took some conventional characteristics you will find in almost every modern shooter, though disregarding that the new characteristic were not of the best quality in general additionally.
To stand out and inspire the people these days it is not enough to simply follow a modern (successful) trend and deliver the conventional gameplay. That is not how you will (constantly) win players, especially not players from the big name titles. You either have to do it better what said big name titles do or you have to deliver an original and contrasting high quality experience which is able to compete with their experiences.
You also have to consider that contemporary/realism themed games will likely always appeal to a wider audience than sci-fi themed games.
So even when a “ODST-CoD” would be a qualitative higher experience than original CoD it would likely still not really appeal to the people who prefer modern military themed shooters or rather more contemporary themed shooters in general simply because it is set in a sci-fi universe.
Plus, in which way would it help and improve the experience of the main games of the franchise when a spin-off gains all the attention, which then likely never will have a sequel and hence all the people who just came for this kind of gameplay are all lost again?
In addition to the importance of inspiration and originality, I think the best current example here for is likely Destiny. It was announced as being the next big thing. The next big shooter IP.
Yet it has failed to inspire as an RPG. It has failed to inspire as an MMO. It has failed to inspire in its open world aspect. It has failed to inspire in shooter gameplay and structure innovations.
It is a shooter with absolute fantastic basic shooter gameplay fundamentals. It creates an amazing atmosphere with its graphics and music. It is really fun, no doubt, especially together with friends. But a price for inspiration, creativity and originality it will not win and so the next big thing it isn’t either.
And I wonder what kind of consequences this will have for the (near) future of Destiny.
I loved ODST, and a sequel would be great, but Halo Wars 2. C’mon! Anyone else what that?
Edit: but don’t even try to attract Major CoD fans. I’ve seen them play Halo and they ask questions like:
“How do I look down the scope?”, “Why cant I quick scope?”, “Hey Look, a gold and green RPG!” and “I meleed him! Why he no die! This game is rigged I getting outta here.”
Those comments Alone about Halo should hurt. But the less big CoD fans, sure invite them. Why the hell not?
Halo 4’s failure is why I suggest a spinoff game that would be more familiar with CoD players. The main Halos featuring Spartans should focus on core Halo, and spinoff titles can explore different gameplay elements without detracting from the Halo experience.